Married Life
by loveslife12
Summary: (Married Hiccstrid AU) When Asmund Hofferson realized he can no longer support his daughter, marriage seemed to be the only answer for her. However, the person he chose for her is her best friend. What would it be like for two friends to marry due to financial and unexpected situations? Will these two stay friends, or will a romance start to bud? *first AU & rating might change*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! Just before I start, I just want you to know that this is my first AU, so please be nice. This story will follow the TV series, (at least season 1 &2) in case anyone was wondering.**

 **Characters might be a bit OOC, but it's an AU, so I hope that's appropriate. I'll try not to have the characters too OOC. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the first chapter! :)**

* * *

Asmund Hofferson looked out of his window watching his daughter mounting off of her Deadly Nadder. Three little Nadders ran after them following their mother as Astrid led her dragon to her pen. Asmund smiled watching the babies that will be adopted soon running in the snow. He walked away from the window once he heard the door open and shut beside him. He turned his head and saw his daughter kicking the snow off of her boots. "Hey dad," she said with a smile. "How are you feeling today?"

Asmund sighed; he didn't want to tell Astrid about what happened that morning. "Do you want something to eat?" She asked putting a pot over the fire.

"No thank you dear, I'm not really hungry."

"That's the fourth time this week dad! You need to eat."

"Astrid, I already ate. You can go ahead and eat. I'm going to bed."

The teenager sighed "alright dad, good night."

"Goodnight," he said walking into his bedroom. He sighed as he got into bed. He hated keep secrets from his daughter, but he didn't want her to worry.

~oOo~

While she waited for her food to fry, she heard the sound of clanking metal from outside. She looked out of the window and saw the black creature curled up in the snow by The Forge. She smiled knowing that her best friend was possibly making another crazy invention. Since it would be a while before her food was done, she walked out of the house and followed the clanking sound.

The black dragon's ears perked up hearing the sound of crunching snow coming towards him. He opened his green eyes and saw the blonde girl walking towards him. She heard him purring as he raised his head up to her. Astrid patted his scaly head and walked inside of The Forge. She saw the back of her auburn hair friend moving his hammer up and down at the metal in front of him.

She got an idea and snuck up behind him; she put her finger in her mouth then put it in his ear. Hiccup turned around rapidly from the surprise and saw his friend grinning. "Oh my gods don't do that!" he cried putting his finger in his ear.

"Oh don't be such a baby!"

"I could have hit you with this!" he yelled swinging his hammer in front of her face. She snatched the hammer and started to toss it in the air.

"You wouldn't have hurt me with this." she stated catching the hammer and tossing it again, but Hiccup grabbed it in the air before she could catch it. "Nice hands," she complimented with a small smile.

"Thank you, now what are you doing here?" he asked putting his hammer on the work bench.

"What? Do you not want me to be here?" she asked with a fake pout.

"No, that's not what I meant! I mean-"

"Hiccup, I'm joking," she said dryly putting her hands on her hips.

"I knew that…..I was just…." Hiccup hit his head on the table and heard his friend breath a laugh.

"Anyway, I came down here to see what you were making." She answered; Hiccup perked his head up and held up the metal rod that was on the table.

"I'm making a new connecting rod for Toothless. The other one was looking a bit rusty, better safe than sorry." He stated and continued to work on it. Astrid gave him a nod and watched him work. Hiccup stopped smashing his hammer on the rod, and started to sniff the air. "Do you smell that?"

Astrid smelled it too, "It could just be the fire in here."

"No, it smells like…burnt fish," Astrid's blue eyes got wide once he finished his statement. Hiccup watched her run out of The Forge to her house. He sighed knowing that she burnt another meal. Then he saw Astrid walking out of her house, giving the burnt food to her Nadders. Hiccup shook his head seeing her fail at cooking once again. Ever since she made yaknog a few days ago, she thinks she can cook. Maybe it didn't help the fact that no one told her how bad it was.

Hiccup walked up to her with Toothless following behind. "You know Astrid, dad and I haven't eaten yet. Maybe you and your dad can just eat with us," he suggested.

"It's just going to be me, dad's asleep."

"Really? It's pretty early."

"I know, but he hasn't been feeling the best. So I just let him sleep."

"Gotcha, so you want to come?"

"Sure why not, come on Stromfly!" she called out behind her. The four Deadly Nadders followed the two teens and the Night Fury up the hill to the chief's home.

~oOo~

Asmund woke up the next morning and went to get a box out from his night stand. When he opened it, he saw something he wasn't expecting. It was empty, his life work was gone! Did he already spend the money? Then he remembered, he was gambling the other day and got drunk. He must have used all of the money when he lost. He was hoping that his daughter could use that one day. Now they have no money and it would take another 15 years to get that amount back.

Asmund clutched the box then threw it out the window. He got up from the bed and paced around the room before he punched the wall. He flinched realizing that Astrid could have heard that. He stood still waiting to hear his daughter's footsteps, but nothing happened. He walked out of his room and softly opened her door. He poked his head in and saw that her bed was empty.

What time was it? He shut the door and walked out of the house. The sun was rising, and he saw a shadow flying across the ground. He looked up and saw his daughter's Deadly Nadder flying over the island. He smiled and saw another dragon flying next to her; it didn't take long to figure out that it was a Night Fury.

He smiled knowing that his daughter finally had a real friend. He never did like it that the Jorgenson boy flirted with his daughter. He could never understand why she hung out with those kids; maybe it had to do with the fact that they were the only teens on Berk.

He watched the two teens land in the middle of the village. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he heard her laugh then punched Hiccup in the arm before walking away. He chuckled when Hiccup put his hand on his now bruised arm. He would never understand how that little tradition of theirs started, but they always seemed to like it.

"Morning dad, did you sleep well?" Astrid asked seeing her father as she walked towards the house. After she put Stormfly in her pen, she gave her and the babies some fish from the basket next to the stall.

"Not really," he answered.

"Is it your chest again?" she asked walking up to him.

"Not this time."

"What's wrong?" Astrid felt her father's hand gently push her inside of their house.

"I have some bad news, but I don't want to say it out here." Astrid narrowed her eyes at him, and then walked inside of their house. Asmund fallowed her, and then shut the door behind them. He pulled out a chair from the dining table for his daughter to sit in. Astrid looked at her father and sat in the chair. He took out a seat for himself then took a deep breath. "You know when you and your friends were doing that best trick competition the other day?"

"Well, it depends what day you're talking about. We do those every week."

"Last week, anyway…..that day, I and a couple of other men made a bet. I don't even remember what the bet was, but I lost all of my life savings-"

"What!?" Astrid jumped out of her seat. "You lost everything? There's nothing left?! How can you be so irresponsible?"

Asmund raised a hand to her. "I know, I know. I made a huge mistake, and now I can't take care of you." He whispered the last part, but she heard him anyway.

"Dad, don't say that! You _can_ take care of me; we've been through this before-"

"This isn't like other times Astrid."

The teen raised a brow at her father. "What do you mean?"

Asmund let out a sigh. "Astrid, I didn't want you to find out this way, but its best that you know." Astrid sat back down watching her father staring at his hands, "I'm dying." Astrid's eyes grew feeling her heart skip a beat. "I coughed up blood this morning. It's now official that my illness is worse than we thought." He added watching his daughter looking down at the ground with her mouth gaped open.

Astrid felt her heart pounding out of her chest. She couldn't believe what he was saying. She took a breath before she spoke. "Don't, don't worry dad. We can figure this out right?" she stammered seeing her father answering her by shaking his head.

"I don't think so. I can't even relax now because I know that you can't take care of yourself when I'm gone."

"I can take care of myself! I'm a Hofferson!"

"You have no money! You can't even cook without messing it up! You never learned how to sew and you're going to grow out of your clothes! You have to buy your clothes with money that doesn't exist! I only taught you how to be a warrior and that's my fault. I should have taught you how to do things that mothers teach, but your mother died when you were too young to learn how to cook, sew, and bunch of other stuff that I don't remember…and that's my fault."

"Then what do you expect me to do?!" Astrid yelled at her father who was hesitating to answer. "Tell me dad!"

"I don't know!" he shouted back.

"Fine, while you figure it out, I'm going to go out flying to figure out why you lost our money at a time like this." she snapped before getting up from her seat to walk out of the house.

"Astrid, come back." he ordered before she slammed the door shut. Asmund got up from his chair to follow her. When he got outside, he saw her mounting on Stormfly. "Now come on don't be like that, Astrid!" he shouted trying to get her to come back. He watched her fly away on her Deadly Nadder to Thor knows where. He hung his head down, and then he saw someone standing in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw the Ingerman boy with wide eyes standing next to his Gronckle. "What are you looking at Fishlegs?" he snapped making the boy jump.

"N-nothing sir….I was just…..leaving now. Come on Meatlug!" he got on his dragon and flew away from the house. Asmund sighed and walked back inside to leave the cold.

~oOo~

Hiccup was at his desk working on _The Book of Dragons_. He heard his dragon snoring behind him as he worked. Without any warning, he heard the door slam shut downstairs and his name being called out repeatedly. The boy sighed knowing who was screaming his name. He heard pacing footsteps running up the stairs and saw Fishlegs enter his room.

"What's wrong now Fishlegs?" he asked not leaving his eyes from the book.

"Hiccup, you won't believe what I just saw! Well heard I guess…..anyway after I dropped off Meatlug's babies to their new owners, I was by the Hoffersons' house. I heard yelling and screaming, but I couldn't make out what they were arguing about. Then I saw Astrid storm out of the house and flying away on Stormfly. Mr. Hofferson seemed pretty upset."

Hiccup closed the book and looked up at Fishlegs. "That can mean anything. They've fought before."

"Not like this. They sounded distressed, something really bad happened." he watched Hiccup pressing his lips together. He looked down at the ground and sighed.

"Come on Toothless, let's go find her." The Night Fury's ear's perked up. He got up and stood next to his rider purring.

"Do you need me to come, Hiccup?"

"Yeah, I might need the extra eyes to find her." The two walked out of the house and they mounted on the dragons to find the fuming teen.

~oOo~

Stoick was walking around the village when he saw his son and Fishlegs flying over the island. After seeing the two boys flying, he wondered why he didn't see Stormfly with them. He then remembered seeing the girl flying away a while ago; usually Astrid was with Hiccup when they flew around the island.

He figured something must have happened between the three of them. If Astrid was angry about anything, he knew the first person she would tell was Asmund. Stoick walked to the Hofferson house and knocked on the door. "Asmund?" He didn't get a response so he banged on the door. It took a while, but he heard footsteps and the door opened revealing a groggy man. "Mr. Hofferson, did you just wake up?"

"Um no, I went back to sleep. Well tried to at least, is there something I can help you with?"

"Is there something going on with Astrid? I saw her flying away minutes ago and I just saw my son and Fishlegs going the opposite direction. I don't know what you think, but that's very unusual for the three of them. Do you know what happened?"

"Listen chief, this is between me and Astrid. You are not involved," he groaned at his chief.

"I didn't say anything about you, but if this is really about you and Astrid, then it looks like my son is going to be involved with your situation. So better tell me what's going on before it becomes an issue."

"Hiccup isn't….wait. That's it! Hiccup's the answer!" Asmund shouted with a smile.

Stoick tiled his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at the man. "What are you talking about? My son's the answer to what?"

"To our problem! Why didn't I think of this before? It's perfect!"

"Mr. Hofferson, can you please explain to me what you're talking about?" Stoick watched the man smile and laughing. He wasn't sure what was going on inside of his head, but he started to wonder if he was going insane.

"Ah yes, I would love to, but inside please. I don't want everyone to know just yet."

~oOo~

Astrid couldn't understand why this had to happen. Her father was dying and now she could barely live on her own. Why did this have to happen to her? First her mother was taken, now her father? Would this be her legacy, to be the only orphan on the island?

Before she knew it, she felt tears falling on her face. Stormfly must have heard her sniffling; she squawked trying to get Astrid's attention. The girl wiped her tears away and patted her dragon's head. "I'm sorry girl; I'm just having a bad day."

"Astrid!" She turned around and saw Hiccup and Fishlegs behind her.

She let out a groan before speaking. "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question. Now can you please land so we can talk?" Hiccup asked her.

Astrid pursed her lip and let out a sigh, "Stormfly, land." The Deadly Nadder obeyed and landed on the snowy ground. Toothless and Meatlug landed next to her and their riders mounted off.

"Fishlegs told me that you and your father got in a fight," Hiccup replied. Astrid crossed her arms and gave Fishlegs a death glare.

The boy laughed nervously and mounted on his Gronckle. "You know what Hiccup; I just came to help you find her. I helped you find her, and now I'll just be heading home." Fishlegs patted Meatlug and she hovered over the ground before taking off.

Hiccup sighed watching him fly off then he turned back to look at Astrid. "Okay, so judging by the look you just gave Fishlegs, he was right."

Astrid sighed and looked down at the ground. "Yes, he's right. My father and I did have a fight."

"What were you guys arguing about? Fishlegs said that you guys sounded distressed."

Astrid put her hand on her head and let out a groan. "I guess you could say that," she mumbled.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Astrid was hesitant to answer. She wasn't so sure if talking about it would be good or bad, but she huffed and said "alright, I'll tell you."

~oOo~

Stoick scratched his forehead after listening to Asmund request. "Are you sure about this, Asmund? I mean, this is a big decision."

"I know it's crazy, but I'll be able to rest in peace knowing that she's being taken care of."

"I understand…but marriage? We're talking about our children here. They're hardly adults-"

"They'll be turning 16 soon. I was that age when I got married," Asmund added.

Stoick ignored him and kept trying to make his point. "-and let's not forget that they're friends, and not for very long if I may add. This is going to be a major change for them," Stoick explained.

"Stoick, think about it. They're going to get married any way. Can you honestly see your son marrying the Thorston girl and my daughter marrying…..any of the other boys?" Stoick thought about it. He really couldn't see his son and Ruffnut together. The thought of Ruffnut Thorston being his daughter-in-law made him cringe inside.

"You do have a point there, but don't you think we should wait? At least let them be engaged so you know that she'll be taken care of. They can get married when their older."

Asmund shook his head. "No, I don't know how long I have left. I _must_ witness my daughter getting married. Just someone's word isn't enough; I need see my daughter getting married."

Stoick groaned and pitched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, when they come home the four of us will talk at my house. Let this be their decision, and don't force the marriage on them. If they don't want to get married, then I'll find another way to prove to you that your daughter will be okay after your passing."

"Thank you, I'm glad that you're at least considering it."

~oOo~

"You just found out today?" he asked after she told him what happened.

"Yeah, I was hoping he would get better, but that's clearly not going to happen," she groaned.

"And the money?"

"He found out this morning. I mean, how drunk was that man to lose all that money?"

The two of them stood in silence. Neither of them was sure what to say, Hiccup broke the silence when a thought came. "You know, maybe my dad can help."

Astrid shrugged at him. "Maybe, I guess we can try and see." The teens got back on their dragons and flew to the chief's home.

~oOo~

Stoick and Asmund were in the Haddock household waiting for Hiccup to show up, and maybe Astrid if she was with him. The longer Stoick thought about the marriage, the more it made him nervous. He didn't know how his son would react, but he couldn't think of anyone better for his son.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door open. He saw his son and Astrid walking in with Toothless following. "Hey dad can we talk?" the two teens were shocked seeing Asmund there too.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Astrid asked seeing her father by the chief.

"We need to talk to you two." Stoick stated pulling out chairs for them at the dining table. The teens looked at each other and took their seat. "Before I start, did Astrid tell you what's going on at home?" Hiccup nodded at his father letting him continue. "Alright, well….Asmund and I talked and he thinks he has a way to help Astrid when he passes." Astrid's heart pounded; maybe she will be okay after all.

"Well, we think it will be best for Astrid if….if the two of you…well….get married." Stoick stuttered rubbing the back of his neck. He saw the teenagers blushing bright red with their eyes widened.

"Say what?"  
"Marriage?"

"I know it's a shock," Asmund replied trying to help out his chief.

" _Shock_ is an underrated statement!" Astrid shouted feeling her heart pounding from the news.

"Anyway, I need to know that you're being taken care of. Hiccup is the only one I trust on this island to be that person. Also with the chief being there for the both of you is a plus. Knowing that the two of you are in a covenant relationship will help me relax before I die."

Hiccup buried his face in his hands trying to recover from the shock. "Ohhh…..I feel sick." He muffled through his hands feeling nausea rising.

"Dad, does marriage really have to be the answer? I can take care of myself; I don't need to interfere in Hiccup and the chief's life." Astrid said to her father trying to ignore her heart that was beating out of her chest.

"Astrid, I know you're a strong woman. I know you can take care of yourself, but how long will you last by yourself? I'm doing this for your own good." Asmund said seeing his daughter looking down in defeat. Stoick sighed and placed a hand on Asmund's shoulder.

"We'll let the two of you talk about it." Stoick said leading Asmund out the door. Once the teens heard the door shut, Hiccup slammed his face on the table and let out a loud groan. Astrid sunk down in her chair and took deep breaths trying to lower her heart rate.

"What are you thinking?" Astrid asked him.

Hiccup lifted his head and shook his head. "I'm thinking that if we do go through with it, our friendship will be ruined."

"Yeah me too, but what my dad says does make since…in a weird way," Astrid grumbled watching Hiccup shrug. "I mean, do you really see me marrying Fishlegs and the gods forbid Snotlout or Tuffnut?" she added.

Hiccup chuckled a bit. "Yeah, and can you imagine me married to Ruffnut?" Astrid laughed at the thought and Hiccup joined in.

"Oh gods, I guess it looks like that we were going to end up getting married anyway," she laughed.

"Just sooner than we thought uh?" Hiccup said sitting up in the chair.

Astrid nodded in agreement. "I guess so…..I mean, w-who says we can't stay friends after we get married?"

"Yeah, you're right. Let's just get married so your dad can be happy, and we'll stay friends." He said with a small smile. Then he realized what he just said when a thought came to his head. "Then again, we have to do things that friends _don't_ do." It took her a moment, but he saw her face turn blushing red just like his.

She briefly forgot about that. The fact that Hiccup would be chief someday, she would have to give him an heir at some point. Astrid cleared her throat before making her last statement. "Well, we did say that it looks like that we were going to get married anyway, might as well go along with it."

Hiccup felt he face burning and his heart beating rapidly. Did she just say that she's okay with doing _that_ with _him_? "You know, we don't have to do _that_."

"Hiccup, if we're going to be married. I have to give you an heir; we don't have to do anything right away. We can wait until we're older."

Hiccup sighed in relief then and sunk down in his chair. "You know, five months ago you would be strongly against this." He stated and then saw her looking into space like she was watching the past.

She smiled and shook her head breathing out a laugh. "Oh my gods you're right! What happened to me?"

"I took you flying on a dragon." He joked making her give him a weak smile.

~oOo~

The two fathers waited outside for their children to tell them their answer. They heard them laughing at one point, and wondered if it was a good sign. After a while the door opened and they walked outside. "We've talked about it, and we decided to go ahead and get married." Hiccup said at them.

With no warning, Asmund picked Hiccup up and gave him a bone crushing hug. "Thank you so much lad." He said before putting the boy back down on the ground. Once Hiccup was released, he took a deep breath and rubbed his ribs.

"Well, I guess I'll make the announcement tomorrow. Congratulations and welcome to the family lass." Stoick said with a smile patting both of their backs before walking away to finish his duties. Asmund said thank you one last time before leaving the porch. Hiccup and Astrid then walked away from the house together with their dragons following them.

"You know what I just realized, Astrid?"

"What?"

"Snotlout is going to freak out when he finds out." He saw a little sparkle in her eyes and smirk appearing on her lips.

"This could be fun." Astrid raised her hand up and Hiccup slapped it with his.

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 **A/N: So how was that? Again, this is my first AU. Also, this story's rating may change to M due to adult themes. I will tell you right now that there will be NO lemons, but there might be limes in later chapters. As of right now, this story will be T.**

 **I'll give you guys a heads up if I feel that I need to change the** **rating.**

 **I don't know when I'll upload the next chapter because I'm in college right now.**

 **Don't forget to Review and I'll see you next time! BYE! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I would have uploaded this yesterday, but I was watching Race to the Edge. I only watched the first 2 episodes, so no spoilers in the reviews please. I'm going to watch the third episode this coming Friday (July 3).**

 **Anyway, I was touching up a few things in the chapter last night, and there are more funny and awkward moments ahead.**

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The group of friends had been waiting for Hiccup and Astrid on the other side of Berk. They were going to have a speeding competition, but they couldn't start until they were all present. "Where are they? What's taking them so long?" Tuffnut groaned as he scanned the sky for a Night Fury and a Deadly Nadder. Just then, they heard the Night Fury whistle and the two late teens landed.

"Sorry we were late guys, but we're all here now." Hiccup said as they all got in line.

"Where were you guys?" Snotlout asked them.

Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other. They weren't sure if they should tell them just yet. "We were at a meeting." Hiccup said quickly and Astrid nodded in agreement.

"There was a meeting? What was it about?" Fishlegs asked.

"Guys, can we just get this competition over with! Hookfang and I are going to show you chumps how to fly with speed!" All of the other teens groaned at him.

"Yeah right! Barf and Belch will definitely beat your one headed campfire!" Ruffnut gloated with her brother laughing in agreement.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at the three teens bashing each other again. "Okay, now that we got the trash talking off our chest. Who wants to go first?"

"Oh, Meatlug and I want to go first!" Fishlegs shouted out.

"Alright Fishlegs, remember that once you reach that sea stack, come back to your spot. I'll be timing you." Hiccup instructed pointing out the lone rock sitting out in the frozen water.

Fishlegs nodded and patted his dragon's head. "Okay, ready girl? Here we go!" Fishlegs said as Meatlug hovered over the white ground and flew to the sea stack. Hiccup kept count in this head " _one Berkians, two Berkians, three Berkians_ ….." Hiccup stopped counting once Meatlug landed back in the snow. "How did we do?"

"50 seconds."

"Yes! New personal best! Good job girl!" Meatlug grunted in agreement with her rider.

"50 seconds? Ha! Hookfang is going to beat this in his sleep!"

Astrid rolled her eyes and crossed her arms at the boy. "Well, how about you just _try_ to show how fast you are?"

"Yes, I will try to…..hey wait a minute-"

"Just go Snotlout! We don't have all day! Are you going to fly or not?" Hiccup shouted at him.

"Don't get your skivvies in a bunch, Hookfang and I are going to show you guys who are the champs and who are the chumps."

" _ **Just Go**_!" They all shouted at him.

"Alright, alright, let's fly Hook-" Snotlout couldn't finish his command when the Monstrous Nightmare flew off the hill. The five teens could hear Snotlout screaming and saw him almost sliding off the dragon's neck when he turned to get back to the starting point. When Hookfang landed, Snotlout was gripping the dragon's horns like it was his life line.

"H-how-how did we do?" Snotlout asked as he shook from the flight.

"20 seconds."

Snotlout let go of the horns and pointed at Fishlegs. "Ha! In your face Fishlegs! I am the champ!"

"Alright, you two ready to go guys?" Hiccup looked at the twins; the blond siblings smiled and told their dragon to fly. The twins were having a good start, until it was time to turn. One of the heads hit the side of sea stack and they started to lose control. The Zippleback crashed at the starting point and groaned in pain with their riders.

"How many seconds was that, Hiccup?" Ruffnut asked as she held her head.

"28 seconds."

Tuffnut threw a fist in the air as Ruffnut cheered in pain.

"Alright my turn, let's go Stormfly." Astrid said and her dragon took off to the ocean. Hiccup kept counting in his head and stopped once she landed.

"8 seconds."

"Alright, I'll count now," Astrid said to him.

"Ready Toothless?" the dragon purred and got ready when he heard the click of the two prosthetics when the wings opened up. "Alright Toothless, let's go!" Astrid counted when he flew and landed back.

"5 seconds."

"Of course he won; the Night Fury is the fastest!" Snotlout cried only receiving groans from the rest of the teens. Then there was a horn blowing in the distance. "Lunch horn! Let's go Hookfang." Snotlout shouted as he flew to The Great Hall.

"Last one there is a blown up Gronckle egg! Right Astrid?" Tuffnut shouted trying to keep Astrid remembering her giant fail on Snoggletog. Astrid growled at him as they flew to The Great Hall.

~oOo~

While the teens ate, Hiccup felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Mr. Hofferson standing behind him. "Can I talk to you for a moment, son?"

Hiccup nodded and got up from his seat. He followed Asmund with his Toothless following him. Astrid watched her father escorting her friend/fiancé out of The Great Hall.

"Oooohhhh! Looks like someone got in trouble with Astrid's daddy." Snotlout sang as he watched the two leaving.

"Really? Hiccup getting in trouble with Mr. Hofferson? Now if it was you he was escorting out, maybe I'd believe it." Fishlegs said.

"Shut up Fishlegs," Snotlout grunted. Astrid rolled her eyes and went back to eating.

"Hey Astrid, what do you think is going on?" Ruffnut asked her.

Astrid shrugged before answering. "I don't know, it could be about anything."

~oOo~

Asmund opened the door and let the teenager and the Night Fury in his house. Toothless walked around the house sniffing every corner. Hiccup watched his dragon to make sure that he wasn't going to make a mess. Asmund pulled out a chair for the both of them. Hiccup walked over and took the seat and sat on the other side of the table with Mr. Hofferson.

"I know this is sudden, but I wanted a little one-on-one time."

Hiccup bit his lip trying to stay calm. He normally acted calm around Mr. Hofferson, but for some reason his heart was pounding out of his chest at the moment.

"I don't know everything that's going on in your mind right now, but I just want you to know how grateful I am. I know that marriage is nerve racking, but I just want to tell you to not worry about it. I heard many people say that marrying your best friend is the best decision that anyone can make. I know that this wasn't something you expected to happen, but I am glad that you two decided to go ahead and get married."

Hiccup had a small smile on his face. He knew that Mr. Hofferson wanted this because he was worried about Astrid, but he also had some pride because he chose him. "You know sir, Astrid and I do feel awkward about this."

"I know you two do, but I really do think it's best for her."

"I understand sir," he said as he got bumped by his dragon that walked into him.

Asmund smiled then wiped it away trying to look serious. "I want you to promise me that you'll take care of my daughter and that you won't give up on her when you guys are having problems. Marriage is about being there for each other during the good and the bad times. Marriage is a challenge itself; don't give up on each other."

"I promise sir, but I don't think she'll need me to take care of-" Hiccup stopped talking when he saw Asmund frowning at him. Hiccup cleared his throat and continued, "I will do anything to make Astrid feel like family. I won't try to disappoint you or her."

"Good...and just thank you once again."

"It's no problem."

~oOo~

The next day, Stoick told his son that he'd make the announcement before dinner. Hiccup went ahead and told Astrid when the announcement would be made. They were both anxious about it; they didn't know how everyone would react, especially their friends. When night approached, everyone went to The Great Hall to eat. Everyone took their seats before they got their food since the chief was still standing, usually that meant something was going to be said.

"Can I have your attention please!?" Stoick shouted standing in front of his seat. Hiccup felt his stomach go in knots. That last time he was this nervous was when he was walking into the death ring. He had no idea that this would be just as nerve racking.

"Now before I begin, I was asked to let you all know what is going on in the Hofferson home. You all know that Mr. Hofferson was been ill for almost a month now, but yesterday I found that he is dying." Many people gasped and turned their heads to the ill man. "I know its dreadful news and I was just as surprised as you are, but not as surprised as his daughter Astrid." Then everyone turned their heads to the blonde teenager who was now red. Even her friends looked at her with concern.

"I also found out that that they no longer have money. When our beloved Mr. Hofferson passes, Astrid will not be able to fully take care of herself. Because of this, I was asked a serious question today by him. This question led to a bitter sweet moment in our village. The bitter: we are losing a great man. The sweet: I will be gaining a new family member."

Everyone was questioning what he meant. Even the teenagers weren't so sure what he meant, but Hiccup saw the spark in Fishlegs' eyes when he figured it out. "Oh my Thor! You guys are-" The stocky boy was interrupted when Stoick finished his statement.

"My son and Astrid have agreed to get married! Please help me congratulate our newest engagement on Berk!"

The Great Hall was filled with cheers and clapping hands. "Are you kidding me!?" Snotlout cried out over the loud cheering.

"The marriage will be taking place here within a month!" Stoick announced once the crowed was settled. After the chief was done with his announcement, the people got up from their seats to get their food.

"You get picked to kill the dragon, you save the village from The Red Death, now you're getting married?! What makes you so special?!" he screamed at him with his finger pocking Hiccup in the chest.

"Everything you just pointed out." Fishlegs said with a smug look. Snotlout had his mouth opened to speak, but slowly shut it and stomped out of the hall.

"Maybe we should talk to him." Hiccup suggested swinging his legs out from the bench getting ready to get up to follow him.

He was stopped when Astrid placed her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe later, he'll come back anyway. He hasn't eaten yet." Hiccup shrugged and took his spot next to her.

"Congratulations you two!" Fishlegs squealed getting up from his seat to hug Hiccup and Astrid. "I had a feeling about you guys! This is so great!"

"Uh….thank you, Fishlegs," Hiccup grunted feeling his back pop. After Fishlegs released them, Astrid rubbed the back of her neck as Hiccup took a deep breath. As they were recovering from Fishlegs' grip, Snotlout came back in. He stomped back to his seat took facing the engaged couple.

"I can't believe you, Astrid. How could you do this to me?" he whined.

Astrid narrowed her eyes at him. "Really Snotlout? Did you actually see us getting married?"

"Yes! Well in my dreams I did…. but that's not the point! How can you agree to marry _him_?" Snotlout whined about pointing at the small teen.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Hiccup yelled feeling a little hurt by his comment.

Astrid kept arguing with Snotlout ignoring Hiccup. "You know what Snotlout; you can have your fantasies. I could care less what you think about us. I never imagined this day to happen too, but it did. And you know what; I don't care what you think, or what any of you think! We might be getting married, but it's not going to change anything. Are we clear?"

Fishlegs nodded and Snotlout sighed with a shrug and the twins were staring into space. Astrid noticed the twins and she smacked the table to get their attention. "I'm sorry what were you saying? I was too busy thinking about how this marriage is going to change everything." Tuffnut said with his sister nodding in agreement. Astrid groaned and hit her head on the table.

"Welcome to my world." Hiccup said as he placed his elbow by her head and leaning his face in the palm of his hand.

~oOo~

At sundown Astrid and Stormfly flew around the island. The Nadder flew by the cove and her rider noticed something. "Land here girl," She ordered and Stormfly obeyed.

Astrid mounted off her dragon and saw the Night Fury drinking from the edge of pond that wasn't frozen. Then she saw his rider lying on a patch of icy grass that was surrounded by snow. Astrid walked towards him while Stormfly walked to the pond to get a drink. Hiccup heard footsteps crunching in the snow. He opened his eyes and found his friend standing by his head.

"What's up?" he asked putting a hand behind his head.

"I was just about to ask you the same question." She replied taking a seat next to him. She crossed her legs and leaned back with her arms supporting her up.

"I'm trying to clear my head." He answered her before taking a deep breath. "Yesterday, your father wanted to talk to me about some…things."

"Oh no, what did he say?"

"It was nothing embarrassing, it was just….. He wanted me to promise him that I would take care of you. In all honestly _you_ would be the one taking care of _me_." He explained sitting up from the cold ground. Astrid let out a light chuckle and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"You better believe it," she replied with a smile. "At least your talk was more comfortable than the one I had earlier." She said making her skin crawl at the memory.

"What?" he asked cocking up his brow.

Astrid sighed regretting that she brought it up. "Oh, after I left The Great Hall. This woman just _had_ to give me this, what she called 'a lovely talk about pleasing my husband' because my mother never could." She said trying to mock the woman. Hiccup snorted trying to keep his laugh in. Astrid crinkled her nose then pushed him to the ground only to make him bust out laughing. He rolled on his side with his back facing her and he let out his laughter.

"You think that's funny?" she snapped crossing her arms around her chest. Hiccup kept laughing and nodded making her want to hit him more. She punched his back several times and he raised his arm up in defeat.

"Okay o-okay, I give I g-give!" he laughed pushing himself up from snow. Astrid crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. Hiccup turned his head towards her and saw anger in her blue eyes. He cleared his throat and tried to contain his laughter.

"I'm sorry; it's just that I can only imagine the look on your face when that happened." He replied to only receive one last slap on the arm.

"It was not funny! Even when I tried to leave she would follow me! The woman couldn't take the hint that I didn't want to talk about it."

"Trust me, I get it. My dad tried to give me the same talk last night at dinner. I couldn't finish my meal I was so disgusted."

"Then why were you laughing at my distress? You had the same talk!"

"I was laughing because it's hard for me to imagine Astrid Hofferson being embarrassed about 'the talk'." He answered pulling his knees up to his chest. After he realized what he just said, he rejected it immediately. "If you want to punch me again go ahead." He grumbled and clinched up waiting for something. He expected a punch, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes and turned his head to find her glaring at him. "You're not going to punch me?"

Astrid shook her head. "Nah, I don't feel like it right now." She said with a smile brushing her bangs away from her eye. "So, did your talk with your father go well? Or did you try to get away too?"

"He wouldn't let me leave the table. He told me 'if you try to leave I'll just start this conversation all over again'." He said mocking his father's voice.

"I can't believe they think we'll be doing _that_ soon." She replied falling on her back and crossing her arms and legs. Hiccup copied her movements and placed his hands behind his head.

"You can't blame them for thinking that. I mean most people get married to someone they barely know and they…..become intimate. We've been friends for almost a half a year, so that's just what they expect."

"But that's the thing Hiccup, we're _friends_! Friends don't get married before courting! We're skipping a huge step."

Hiccup let out a sigh. "I feel the same way, you know…." Astrid turned her head to look at him. "…Even though it seems like we missed a huge step, who says we can't try courting while we're still married."

Astrid smiled and turned her head back up. "I was hoping you would say that. So it looks like we're on the same page."

He nodded keeping his eyes on the sky that was forming stars. "Just don't hate me when I say if I wonder what my dad said was true." He added waiting for another hit on the arm.

"No, I don't blame you for wondering. I do feel weird that you just said that to me, but I don't hate you for wondering."

"Sorry, I don't even know why I said that." Hiccup mumbled putting a hand over his eyes.

"Don't feel so embarrassed. Would it help if I said that I'm wondering if what that lady said was true too?" she saw him raise his hand away from his eyes. He pulled himself up from the ground and rested on his forearms.

"Really?" he questioned her. She nodded and turned her body so she was resting on her side to look at him. "Wow, I thought I was just going crazy."

"According to that woman, it's normal to have those thoughts." She replied turning on her to look at the crescent moon. "So, what were some things that your dad said?" she asked making the teen boy burn bright red. He sat up and started to get up from the ground.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," He mumbled.

Astrid sat up straight looking up at him. "Oh come on, don't tell me you never thought about that."

"Well yeah, I mean what teenager hasn't? That doesn't mean that I want to know if it's true." He stated feeling his ears burning. Astrid raised a brow and got up from the ground.

"You do realize that you are marrying me right?"

"Well….yeah, but-" he stuttered trying to keep his eyes on the ground.

"Okay, sorry that I even brought it up." She said raising her hands up. While the two stood in slice, Astrid looked away from him biting her lip thinking about what the woman said. She couldn't hold it any longer and wanted to see what he would do. "So is it true that the size of your foot determines the size of-"

" **Astrid**!" he shouted waving his hands around trying to get her to stop.

Astrid let out a laugh watching his face burn bright red. "I'm sorry; I just wanted to see how you would react." She said with a smug smile.

Hiccup buried his face in his hands and let out a groan. "That's not funny," he mumbled through his hands. Astrid cleared her throat trying to stop another laugh.

"Sorry….again, but in all seriousness; don't you want to know if what your dad said is all true? You said yourself you're curious about it. Don't you want to...you know?" she brushed her bangs away when she felt her face starting to burn.

Hiccup's eyes widened as he took a step back. "Wait what?" was the only thing he said before he fell on his back in the snow when he stepped on a frozen rock with his prosthetic. Astrid walked over to him and held out a hand to pull him up.

"Are you okay?" She asked as he grabbed her hand. She helped him get up and he nodded at her question as his dragon walked over to him.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little taken back is all." He answered giving Toothless a pat on his head. "Are you sure you want to do _that_ now?"

"I'm not talking about right now!" She shouted swatting his arms. "I'm talking about a month from now, on our wedding night." She answered putting her hands on her hips.

"Well…..I guess that makes it….. a little…..better." He mumbled trying to process what she was asking.

"If you don't want to that's fine. I was just suggesting it. We can stick to our original plan and wait till we're older." She said walking over to Stormfly who was resting by the pond.

"It's not like that! I mean I get it. We're getting married; I shouldn't act so crazy about you asking me about our wedding night. You have the right."

Astrid shook her head and walked over to him. "No, I shouldn't have even brought it up. We're friends, not a couple."

"Friends getting married," He added. Astrid shrugged and mounted on Stormfly. Hiccup was about to mount on Toothless when a thought came to him. "Hey, why don't we forget about the marriage for a while and just start courting. If we feel close enough until our wedding, maybe we can talk more about our plans for that night."

Astrid gave him a weak smile and nodded. "Okay, sounds fair. I'll see you tomorrow morning then."

He smiled up at her. "It's a date," he announced before walking away from her. He heard Stormfly takeoff behind him when he mounted on Toothless. "Okay bud, let's go home. We got a big day tomorrow." Once he opened up the tail, the Night Fury took off and flew back to the house.

* * *

 **A/N: Why do I enjoy writing awkward moments? So yeah, I'm going to have them court before and after they're** **married. Most of this story is going to focus on their relationship, so I don't want to rush it.**

 **I'm finishing up chapter three right now. It might be up by Friday (July 3), I'm not so sure right now. Because of the fact that I'm going to college right now, it's taking my time away from this story and I really want to write it.**

 **So until then, I'll see you later, bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is short compared to chapters 1 and 2. I have to write a paper for school, so I have to hold chapter 4 until then (even though I don't want to).**

* * *

The next morning, the teens gathered in The Great Hall while everyone else was still doing their morning chores. All the dragons gathered around the table resting on the floor as they heard their riders chatting. While the teens were finishing up their breakfast, a few people came in to eat. As more people came in, the teens went about their business doing their normal routine. Fishlegs was updating _The Book of Dragons_ , the twins and Snotlout were having a strength competition, and Hiccup and Astrid were playing a game that the six of them made up called 'what would you do?'

"What would you do if you were trapped on a deserted island without your dragon?" Astrid asked him. Hiccup tapped his finger on the table and pressed his lips together.

"I would make a boat," he answered proudly.

"There are no trees on the island," she added with a smug smile.

"Then I guess I'll just have to wait for someone to save me."

"Lame!" Astrid sang.

"It may be a lame answer, but that doesn't mean I am!"

"Are you sure?" she asked with a crooked smile. Before Hiccup could reply, he saw his father walking to their table. He turned his head and saw his father beckoning him to come. Hiccup got up from his seat and walked over to his father.

"Son, I need you to help Bucket and Mulch put fish in the food storage."

"What? Why?" he whined looking up at his father.

"Your friends can help; I just need you to help around the village before the freeze starts." Stoick explained watching his son roll his eyes.

"Okay, I'll round up the others." He groaned walking away from his father.

"Thank you son!" Stoick shouted with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah." Hiccup grumbled as he walked back to his table. "Hey guys, my dad asked us to help Bucket and Mulch with the fish."

"Well, even though that sounds good and all…I have plans…for the rest of the day." Snotlout said before walking out of the hall.

"Yeah, us too," Ruffnut added grabbing the back of her brother's vest. Hiccup watched the twins and their dragons following Snotlout out of the hall.

"Okay then…so I guess it's just going to be the three of us." Hiccup said looking down at Astrid and Fishlegs.

"Sure Hiccup, I'll help you." Fishlegs said with a smile getting up from his seat.

"Looks like you boys are going to need some help. So are we going to the docks or what?" Astrid announced getting up to walk out of the hall. The two boys stared at her as she walked out with her dragon.

"Did she just…" Fishlegs asked looking down at his friend.

"Yep," Hiccup answered before walking away to follow Astrid. "She does that a lot. I'm kind of used to her pointing out my thin arms." He said walking out with Toothless.

"I don't think that's a good thing." Fishlegs added before following them out of The Great Hall.

~oOo~

After the three teens and the fishermen got the baskets of fish, Mulch counted the total of the baskets in the storage. "We're going to need to make a few more trips," he stated to himself.

"Do you need us to help you fish?" Hiccup asked as he and Astrid each pulled a basket in.

"No, I don't think so. Hey while I have you here, why don't you three take some fish?"

"Hey thanks, Mulch." Fishlegs said as the three of them got some fish. After Fishlegs left with Meatlug, Hiccup put the fish that he and Astrid picked out in his satchel. Then they felt a gust of cold wind and saw dark clouds heading towards the island.

"Looks like it's going to snow again," Hiccup stated looking into the horizon. Then he turned his head to the side to look at Astrid. "You want to race before the storm hits?" Astrid nodded and mounted on Stormfly. Hiccup copied her action and hooked his prosthetic on the stirrup.

"How many laps do you want to do?" she asked looking down at him.

"How about until the storm hits?" Hiccup suggested. Astrid smiled and agreed and they took off to race around the island.

~oOo~

"Well that hurt!" Astrid whined as they walked into The Great Hall. The two had been flying all day and what they thought was going to be snow, turned out to be freezing rain. They found a table to sit at with their dragons resting on the floor next to them.

"I think one landed in my eye, it feels irritated." Hiccup complained rubbing his eye.

"Let me see," Astrid scooted closer to him and pulled his hand away from his eyes. Hiccup blinked feeling his eye water. Astrid pulled her face close to his and rested her thumb by his eye to study it. "It does look a little red," she muttered. Hiccup groaned and rubbed his eye. "Don't touch it," she ordered pulling his hand away having her hand resting on top of his. He pulled his hand away and reached for his eye. Astrid grabbed his wrist and pulled it to his chest. Before he could use his free hand, she grabbed it and put it over the other hand making an "X" shape over his chest.

They were both trying to hold their laugh when she pushed him on his back. Hiccup tried to pull himself up, but she was using her whole weight pinning him to the bench. "Will you let go?" he laughed trying to pull himself up. Astrid let out a laugh to only pin him harder on the bench.

"What in the world?" they heard someone squeak by them. They turned their head and saw their friends staring at them with wide eyes. Astrid quickly let go of Hiccup and they both sate up straight. "What were you two doing?" Fishlegs asked noticing the two turning pink.

"It's a long story," Astrid stammered brushing her bangs away from her eye.

"Sure it is," Ruffnut mumbled with a smile. Astrid glared at her making Ruffnut walk away from the group.

"Whoa Hiccup, are you crying?" Tuffnut asked pointing at him.

"Huh?" Hiccup touch under his red eye and felt a drop on his finger. "Oh, no I'm not crying. Ice got in my eye."

"Ouch, maybe you want to get that checked out," Fishlegs commented.

Hiccup rolled his eyes "I would, but I'm waiting until the rain stops. I'm not going outside to fly up to Gothi's hut to only get my good eye hit with ice too."

"Maybe it'll do you some good." Snotlout smirk to only receive a blow to the head from an empty mug. Hiccup turned his head away from Snotlout to Astrid; to only find her smiling with arms crossed over her chest. Snotlout glared at Astrid as he rubbed the forming bump on his head.

"Anyway, we came to see if there are any leftovers from supper earlier. You guys want any if we find some?" Fishlegs asked looking down at the two.

"No we're good. Bucket and Mulch let us have some fish," Hiccup answered.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later then." Fishlegs walked away with Tuffnut following, and Snotlout kept his glare on Astrid and Hiccup as he walked away.

~oOo~

"Is it still raining ice?" Hiccup asked as he kept a hand over his eye. Astrid shrugged and walked to the double doors. She could hear the freezing rain hitting the stone steps and some ice covering the ground. Astrid closed the door and nodded. The hall was empty and the two could feel the fatigue growing in their bodies.

"You know, you don't have to stay here." Hiccup said watching her taking a seat next to him.

"I know, but I've never been in The Great Hall this empty before. It's kind of….peaceful."

"Now you understand why I used to always hang out here late at night." Hiccup stated moving his hand away from his eye. Astrid looked down at her feet. Sometimes she forgets how they used to treat him. Even though she never said anything to his face like others did, she did think and say a lot behind closed doors.

"So, what did you do here by yourself?" Astrid asked.

"Sometimes I would draw, read, I'll even come here just to think. Nothing really impressive…now I do all that in the cove." He said with a weak smile.

"Sounds kind of nice," she muttered.

"Really? I thought you of all people would find that boring."

"If you hang out with the twins and Snotlout your whole life, you would think having quiet time would sound perfect too." Hiccup shrugged and put his and back over his eye. "How's your eye?" she asked.

"I don't know, it still kind of hurts," He answered.

"Let me see." Astrid scooted closer to him and Hiccup pulled his hand away from his eye. Astrid adjusted his head to get a better look in the dim lighting. She put her face close to his to get a good look at his eye. Hiccup could feel his face burning when she got closer to his face. "It looks better than before, but it's still a little red." She stated pulling her face away from his.

"At least it's not stinging anymore." He mumbled rubbing his eye. As they sat in silence, they could hear their dragons snoring and the ice hitting the stones outside. "Well, looks like we'll be here for a while. What do you want to do?"

"Want to learn some self-defense?" she asked with a smile.

"What?"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!" she cried out getting up from the bench.

"I think your idea of fun is different from mine," he grumbled.

"Oh come on, just get up and try to grab me." She said pulling him off of the bench. Hiccup groaned, but he stood in front of her waiting for her instructions. "Okay, now put your hand on my shoulder."

"How is that self-defense?"

"Just do it!" she shouted putting her hands on her hips.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, and put his hand on top of her shoulder pad. "Now what?"

"This," she said with a grin. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it. Then she grabbed his shoulder with her free hand, and turned him around to place his hand between his shoulder blades. Then she pushed him down on the table making him scream in pain when his face hit the table.

"Okay, even though that was painful. It was a pretty neat trick," he mumbled. Astrid smiled proudly then released him. Hiccup stood up straight to pop his back, and he stretched out his arms and neck.

"Want to learn another move?"

"No I'm good!" he shouted.

"Oh come on, just one more."

Hiccup groaned and caved in. "Alright, one more attack move."

~oOo~

Stoick woke up late that night. He couldn't go back to sleep and decided to get up. He looked out the window and saw the full moon glow resting on the village. Seeing the clear night sky reminded him that he didn't see his son come home after dinner.

He walked up the stairs to find his son's bed empty. He turned his head and saw that Toothless' rock bed was empty as well. Stoick ran down stairs to get out of the house. He looked up at the sky hoping to find the Night Fury. When he couldn't find them, he decided to look around the village. He went to The Forge, but he didn't even see Gobber. Then he walked to The Great Hall to find two sleeping dragons. He sighed in relief, and then he looked around to find his son.

He found his son sleeping on the floor with Astrid next to him. Stoick knelt down and shook his son's shoulder. Hiccup groaned and rolled on his stomach. "Hiccup, wake up!" he muttered sternly trying not to wake up Astrid. Hiccup groaned and swatted his father's hand away. Stoick shook his son one last time making Hiccup's eye flutter open. He looked around him and turned his head to find his father hovering over him.

"Oh hey dad, what are you doing here?" he yawned rolling on his back.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Stoick saw his son narrowing his eyes at him. Hiccup looked around the room and his eyes grew wide.

"What time is it?" he asked getting up from the ground.

"About midnight, now wake up Astrid and get her home before her father notices she's gone. I don't want him to start a panic." Stoick instructed before leaving The Great Hall. Hiccup let out a sigh and slid his hands down his face. Hiccup got on his knees and shook Astrid's arm. "Astrid, wake up! We slept in!" he shouted making her rub her eyes before she opened them.

"What?" she asked groggy trying to look at him in the dim light.

"We slept in The Great Hall. We have to get home before anyone notices." He explained getting up from the floor to wake up their dragons. Astrid nodded in agreement and stood up slowly. Stormfly walked over to her rider and nudged her back. "See ya later," she shouted running out of the hall with Stormfly. Hiccup and Toothless followed her out and ran to his house.

~oOo~

At sun rise, Stoick heard his son walking down the stairs when he was writing in his scroll. "Did you sleep better in your bed?" he asked not looking up at his scroll.

"The only difference was that I had a pillow in bed." he stated taking a seat at the dining table. Stoick let out a light chuckle and looked up at his son. Then he noticed something purple on Hiccup.

"Son, where did you get that bruise?" he asked pointing at his son's neck.

Hiccup raised a brow and put his hand on the side of his neck. He felt a sting spread when he touched the tender spot. "Oh yeah, Astrid was showing me a couple of attack moves last night. She was going to show me this one move on how to hit someone with your elbow. Somehow I tripped over Toothless' tail and she fell on top of me. When we fell her elbow landed on my neck." He explained covering the purple mark with his hand.

"Well, I believe you. I've seen her get rough on the others. The question is will anyone else believe that the bruise was from an elbow?"

"Oh come on dad! Where else could I have gotten…..." Then Hiccup realized what his father was trying to say. He cringed a little and breathed out "oh no."

* * *

 **A/N: Again, sorry that this chapter was short. I'll try to make chapter 4 longer than this one. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. I'm not completely sure when chapter 4 will be up. I just started to write it yesterday, but because I have to write an essay for college, I have to hold this for a while. Hopefully I wont have to hold this too long.**

 **So until then, I'll see you next time. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I had to write an essay and study for finals last week. I'm out of school now so I'll be writing more.**

* * *

Astrid walked out of her bedroom hoping that her father wouldn't bring up last night. They planned to go home after the rain passed, but didn't realize how late it was. She didn't even remember falling asleep in the hall until Hiccup woke her up. When she came home last night, her father was asleep. She prayed that he didn't try to wait up for her. She already felt horrible for staying later than she planned, she would hate herself if she made her sick father stay up. She opened her father's bedroom door and found him sleeping. She quietly shut the door and walked out of the house.

She felt the cool air hitting her skin when she walked to Stormfly's pen. She gave Stormfly and her babies fish to eat. While her dragons were having their meal, she broke and brushed away the ice from the stairs to the house. While she was cleaning the stairs, she saw Hiccup walking by. She noticed him holding his neck and walking to The Forge. Astrid raised a brow seeing him rubbing the side of his neck, but she shrugged it off and went back to breaking the ice on the wooden stairs.

Hiccup kept his hand over the bruise trying to make it look like he had a crick in his neck. When he got in The Forge, Gobber noticed Hiccup's mannerism. "You okay there boy?"

"Oh, I slept on my neck wrong last night. It's a little sore." He lied hoping Gobber fell for it.

The blacksmith looked down at the boy and sighed. "Well, do you think you can work today? I don't want you making that neck of yours worse."

"No, I can still work. I'll just ice it for a bit before I do anything." Gobber nodded and left to get a bag of ice. When Gobber came back, he handed Hiccup the bag. Once Gobber turned around, Hiccup quickly moved his hand away and placed the bag of ice on his neck. Hiccup walked into the back in his work space. He kept looking at his neck through the reflection of the blade of an axe hanging on the wall. He was hoping the ice would shrink the bruise, but it didn't seem to work. Hiccup put the bag of ice on his work bench and buried his face in his hands letting out a groan.

"Oh, Hiccup, before I forget…" Hiccup raised his head up and reached for the bag of ice. He quickly rested it on his neck before Gobber walked into the back. "...Your father wanted me to remind you that Mr. Hofferson wanted to talk you to later."

Hiccup nodded and placed the ice closer to his skin. "Yeah okay," he said feeling his skin developing goose bumps from the cold. Gobber noticed the teen biting his lip and avoiding eye contact.

"Are you okay Hiccup? You seem a little nervous."

Hiccup nodded before Gobber walked away. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief and placed the leaky bag back on the bench to wipe the cold water away from his neck. "Hiccup?" he heard a female voice call out.

"I'm back here Astrid!" he called out putting the bag of ice back on his neck. He heard footsteps coming towards the back.

Astrid walked in the room with a small smile, but it faded when she saw him icing his neck. "What's wrong with you?"

"Remember last night when you fell on me?"

"How can I not forget? You almost cried like a baby." She said with a smirk, only to receive a glare from her friend.

"First off, the neck is very sensitive. Second off you gave me a bruise." He lifted the ice pack up away from his neck, and revealed his purple mark. Astrid's eye grew wide and she put her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my gods! That looks like a-"

"I know!" Hiccup shouted only to make Gobber run in the back.

"What are you yelling about?" he asked as he entered the room. Gobber saw Hiccup's bruise before he could cover it. "I leave you two alone for one minute, and this what you do? Maybe it's a good thing you two are getting married next month." He stated looking down at the teens as he put his hand and hook on his hip.

"Gobber it's not what you think-" Hiccup tried to explain to only be interrupted.

"Oh really? Then where did you get it from?" Gobber asked with a smirk looking at Astrid.

"My elbow," Astrid answered with a groan.

Gobber raised a brow at her. "Your elbow? Is this a new thing you kids are doing now?"

Hiccup slapped his hand over his eyes and hung his head down. He let out a sigh as he heard Astrid explaining what happened. "I was showing him a few attack moves last night. Long story short, I fell on top of him and my elbow hit his neck."

"Ah, well….just be careful you two. Talk in this village spreads like wild fire. The last thing we need is gossip about you two." The teens watched the blacksmith walk out of Hiccup's room. The teens let out a sigh and looked at each other.

"So what are you going to do with that?" she asked pointing to his neck.

"I'm just going to try to hide it. Make people think I got a sore muscle."

"You know that's not going to work. It might take a week for that bruise to completely heal. I mean, what are you going to do when you fly on Toothless? You can't be holding your neck while keeping your balance in the air."

Hiccup groaned in his hands and paced around the room. "What am I going to do? Not everyone is going to believe what really happened."

Astrid shrugged and replied "I guess we can just go along with it."

"What? I thought you of all people would want to protect your imagine."

"Oh trust me; I want my image to be perfect, and I have ways to make sure it stays that way." She said with a smile picking up an axe that was hanging on the wall. Hiccup's eye grew wide as he took a step back away from her.

~oOo~

"I can't believe you guys bent my sword!" Snotlout shouted at the twins as they walked to The Forge.

"Hey, you bet us that we couldn't!" Tuffnut defended looking down at the fuming teen.

"No I didn't! You asked if I bet you, I said no, and you didn't anyway!" Snotlout barked at Tuffnut.

"Oh calm down, Hiccup can fix that sword like new." Ruffnut said pointing at The Forge.

"I'm not letting Useless touch my weapon!"

"Fine, then we'll go and ask if he can fix it. Tuff and I need new axes anyway." Ruffnut snatched the bent sword from Snotlout hand.

"Hey, I want that sword back like I had it before you guys broke it!" Snotlout shouted before walking away to go home. The twins looked at each other before walking to The Forge. They noticed Gobber wasn't around, but they heard voices behind the back door. Ruffnut and Tuffnut slowly walked to the door trying to make out the voices.

"What if I gave you black eye? Maybe people will just think you got in a fight?"

"No! There is no way I'm letting you punch me in the face!"

The twins recognized the voices to belong to Hiccup and Astrid. "What are they talking about?" Tuffnut asked his sister in a hush tone. Ruffnut shrugged and kept listening to their conversation.

"Do you have anything to cover your neck then?"

"No, because I didn't know something like this would happen."

"You mean you don't have any scarves, or long neck shirts?"

"No, and who would wear that?"

The twins looked at each other in question. Why would Hiccup need to cover his neck? The twins were about to leave until they heard Astrid say "well, we need to find a way to cover that bruise." Ruffnut's let out a light gasped and covered her mouth. Tuffnut raised a brow at his sister and mouth "what?" at her. Ruffnut bit her lip trying not to smile. She grabbed her brother's arm and they ran out of The Forge. Once they were close to their house, Tuffnut pulled his arm away from his sister's grip.

"What is going on?" Tuffnut asked watching his sister trying to contain a giggle.

"Don't you get it? Hiccup's got a bruise on his neck, and Astrid's trying to give him suggestions on how to cover it?" Tuffnut shrugged making Ruffnut roll her eyes. "Astrid totally sucked on his neck. Hiccup got a hickie!" Ruffnut tried to hold her laugh.

Tuffnut's eyes went wide once he got the connection. "I guess you can say 'Hiccy got a hickie'." Tuffnut said proudly with a smile.

"Dibs to tell Snotlout!" Ruffnut shouted before running off to find the teen.

"No, I want to tell him!" Tuffnut shouted back as he followed his sister.

~oOo~

After Astrid left The Forge, Hiccup kept icing his neck. Once he realized that the bruise wasn't going to shrink, he emptied the bag of ice and tossed it across the room. Hiccup let out a groan and heard Toothless purring at him. Hiccup walked over to the black beast and scratched his head. "What do you say Toothless? After this you want to go on a flight?" Toothless purred, and then his ears perked up when he heard someone shouting his rider's name.

" **Hiccup**!" the teen heard his name being called out. He recognized the voice to belong to Snotlout. Hiccup put his hand over his neck and acted like he was rubbing a sore muscle. When Hiccup walked out of the back room, he found a red faced Snotlout waiting for him outside.

"Hey Snotlout, what's going on?" Hiccup asked.

"Oh I think you know." Snotlout said crossing his arms over his chest.

Hiccup raised a brow at him. "Um no…I really don't know."

"What's wrong with your neck?" Snotlout asked gesturing to Hiccup's hand.

"Oh I slept on it wrong last night. You know just….trying to… loosen the muscle," Hiccup stammered.

Snotlout narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh really? Because the twins said Astrid made her mark on you."

Hiccup shrugged and muttered. "Yeah I guess you can say that."

"Ha!" Snotlout shouted pointing a finger at him. "So you admit that you got a hickie!" Hiccup's eyes went wide and noticed people around them staring at him. He pursed his lips together then pushed Snotlout in The Forge. Snotlout's eyes went wide when he saw the purple bruise. "Holy Freya! So it is true! I can't believe Astrid would do something like this!"

"Okay, let's get a few things straight here Snotlout. One, Astrid is not interested in you. Two, I got this bruise when we fell and her elbow landed on me, and three, I am really getting tired of telling that story."

"Wait a minute. So you got that from her elbow?"

"Yes, and I think this is the last time I'm going to explain it. I'm getting tired of repeating myself." Hiccup grumbled walking away from Snotlout.

"Well…we got a problem then." Snotlout claimed with a cringe.

"What?" Hiccup whined at him.

"Ruff and Tuff have been telling the entire village that Astrid bit you."

" _ **What**_?!"

~oOo~

Astrid walked out of her house after checking on her father. She gathered the three baby Nadders to give them to their new owners. While she was walking to each home, she noticed people staring at her. She shrugged it off and continued to hand the babies to their new homes. After she was done, she noticed the people staring at her were now whispering. She was starting to get worried and she walked to The Forge. She saw Snotlout and Hiccup talking when she walked in. "Hiccup, why is everyone looking at me?"

Before Hiccup could answer, he saw his father walking towards them holding the twins by their ears. "Explain now!" Stoick barked at the twins as he put them in front of Astrid.

"We told everyone that you gave Hiccup a hickie." Tuffnut said, and then Stoick pulled on his ear again making him gasp in pain. "And somehow they took that as you guys did more."

" _ **What**_?!"

"Yeah, and the worst part is, we have no idea what it is. I mean, what could you guys do while you're sucking on each other's neck?" Ruffnut added feeling her ear being pulled.

Astrid put her hands on her head and walked away from the twins. "Oh no," she moaned feeling her stomach turn.

"You guys need to fix this!" Hiccup shouted.

"How?" Ruffnut asked. "It's pretty obvious that she did bite you." She added pointing at Hiccup's neck.

"You idiots that's not a hickie! I fell on him last night and my elbow landed on his neck! We didn't want people to think that it was a hickie for this exact reason!" Astrid shouted feeling her face burning.

"Oooohhhh!" the twins cringed once they realized what they did.

Stoick rolled his eyes and let go of their ears. "I'll try to do my best to make sure that this rumor that they started stops, but first, you two" Stoick pointed at the twins. "Need to find every person you told that what you said was a lie." The twins groaned in protest at their chief. " _ **Now**_!" he shouted making them run in fear. Stoick rested his hands on his waist and looked down at his son and Astrid. "I advise you to tell Mr. Hofferson the truth before someone tells him false information." The two nodded in agreement, and they walked away to get to Astrid's house.

~oOo~

Astrid and Hiccup walked into the house to find Asmund drinking water out of a mug. "Oh, hey kids." He said with a smile until he saw the bruise on the side of Hiccup's neck. "Oh my gods you two! You couldn't wait a month!" he whined.

"Dad, it's not what you think." Astrid started off with. "Last night, I was showing Hiccup some attack moves. I was about to show him how to hit someone with the elbow. Well, it was dark and we didn't look at our surroundings. Somehow I fell on him. He tried to move out the way, but my elbow hit the side of his neck." She explained watching her father's face go soft.

"Oh, well at least it wasn't inappropriate. I just feel sorry for the boy, that must have been painful." He said with a smirk.

Hiccup let out a nervous laugh rubbing the side of his neck. "Yeah, too bad not everyone believes what really happened."

"What do you mean?" Asmund asked.

"The twins told everyone that it was a hickie. Now people think we did…things." Astrid felt her face burning trying to avoid the word.

"You two didn't, right?" Asmund asked.

"No, no, no!" they shouted seeing the relief in Asmund's face.

"Well, then the date of the marriage remains the same. If people want to talk, then that just means they have nothing better to do." He said with a small smile.

"Thanks for understanding, Mr. Hofferson." Hiccup smiled at the man.

Asmund gave him a nod and lead him out of the house. "Now have good day, oh and don't forget to come by tonight. I got something for you."

"Okay I will, see you later then." Hiccup said walking out of the house.

Asmund shut the door and turned to his daughter. "I'll take the Thorston boy and you take the girl." he said picking up a small bludgeon making his daughter let out a light laugh.

* * *

 **A/N: I was going to make this longer, but I didn't have the time. I'll try to upload next Friday, but no promises. Until then, I'll see you next time. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I am so sorry about the long wait! We've been redoing my room, so I had to unplug my computer for about a week, and we had to get it out of my room so we could paint. My room's not completely done, but I have been writing chapter 6 late at night in case I get side track by redecorating during the day.**

 **Well, enough about my life, you guys have been waiting long enough for this chapter.**

* * *

Later that day, Hiccup went back to the Hofferson house. Toothless followed his rider to the house that they were in front of. Hiccup knocked on the door then heard Asmund yelling for him to come in. Hiccup opened the door and saw Asmund sitting by the fire place. "Evening son, people still giving you trouble about…?" Asmund asked pointing to his own neck.

"Yeah, a few are." Hiccup answered letting Toothless in the house.

Asmund let out a light chuckle as he got out of his chair. "Oh don't worry, it'll die down soon. In a few years you might look back on this day, and get a good laugh out of it." He replied with a smile. Hiccup shrugged rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, let me get my things." He walked into his room and picked up a wooden box. He walked back in the front room holding the box in his hands, and told Hiccup to have a seat. The teen sat at the dining table as Asmund placed the box in front of him. Hiccup slid the box towards him and took off the lid setting it on the table.

He picked up a bronze amulet with the letter "H" carved in the center, and a dagger with some rust on the blade. "Those are the Hofferson family heirlooms. The tradition is to hand these down to the first born son on their sixteenth birthday. I obviously don't have a son, but you're the closest thing I've got to one. Also you're turning sixteen soon, so It seems appropriate to hand these down to you." He explained smiling while watching the boy's face looking at the objects in awe.

"Wow I….this is…" Hiccup put the amulet and dagger back in the box. "Thank you," he said smiling up at Asmund.

"You deserve it for all you've done for this village, and for my daughter." Asmund pulled out a chair and sat next to the teen. "She'll never admit it, but I haven't seen her smile like she does now since she was a little girl. After my brother died, she put it on herself to be the best warrior this tribe has ever seen. She grew up too soon, and I didn't try to stop her. Back then I thought it was best for her to fight; now I know different." He put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder before finishing his statement. "She may never say it, but I know she's grateful that you two became good friends."

Hiccup gave him a small smile and thanked him. Asmund walked him and the Night Fury out of the house. Asmund knew he had made the right choice for Hiccup to handle those heirlooms.

~oOo~

When Hiccup returned home with the wooden box in his hands, he saw his father looking at some papers. Stoick lifted his head up and noticed his son carrying the box. "What you got there son?"

"Oh, Mr. Hofferson gave me some heirlooms." He answered placing the box on the table. When Stoick looked to see what was inside, Hiccup fed Toothless some fish.

"Wow, Hiccup do you have any idea how old these are?" Stoick asked looking at the dagger and amulet in his hand. Hiccup shrugged and threw another fish at Toothless for him to catch. "Let's just say he must really trust you with these. I remember him wearing this amulet and carrying his dagger every day. He saw these as his children before he had Astrid."

"He didn't tell me about that. He just said that the first born son will get those on their sixteenth birthday." Hiccup replied as his father put the dagger and amulet back in the box. As his father put the lid back on the box, a thought wondered in his mind. "Do we have anything that belonged to mom?"

Stoick looked up at his son before shaking his head. "Nothing you'd be interested in, it's just clothes and jewelry."

"Can I see them?" Stoick was surprised that his son was interested. Stoick nodded and they walked into his room. Hiccup saw his dad open the chest that was at the foot of the bed. Hiccup watched his father pull out some clothes and place them on the bed. While looking at the clothes, he noticed his mother was small like him. He figured that he had gotten his build from his mother, but it was nice to know that she was small like him.

"Do you have a drawling or a painting of her?"

Stoick shook his head. "Sorry son, we never got to do a portrait of her. She wasn't known for staying still for a long time. She dreaded the idea of someone staring at her and not being able to move for a long time."

Hiccup smiled as he heard his father describing his mother. They hardly talked about her because it always brought back sad memories for his father. There was at least one thing he wanted to know and he hoped that his dad was okay to talk about. "How did you two meet anyway?"

Stoick smiled as the memory came to him. "You're mother and I always knew each other, but we hardly talked. We became friends after I saw her walking out of the killing area late at night. She was tired and sore, I thought she was going to faint from walking. She told me the trainer over worked her and she missed lunch and dinner. Well, I took pity on her and I cooked a meal for her. Ever since then, we just got closer each day."

"So mom wasn't the solider type uh?" Hiccup asked as they folded the clothes.

"No, but she was a fighter; the trainer just didn't like how she did things. So I decided to train her myself."

"I bet that went bad," Hiccup mumbled.

"What was that?" he asked raising a brow.

"Nothing," he replied as they continued folding the clothes.

~oOo~

A few days passed, and the two families were finishing up a few wedding preparations. Astrid dreaded the idea of wearing a large dress. When some of the women heard Astrid needed a dress, they wanted to take her out to find one. Astrid didn't want to get fitted for one, but they practically dragged her into it. When they were trying to help her decide what to wear, Astrid just wanted to hide. When two of the women that she was with were arguing about which dress was better, she snuck away to go home.

She was greeted by Stormfly who was waking up in her pen. Astrid fed her some fish before walking in the house. She called out for her father, and he walked out of his bedroom. "You're home early, did you find a dress?" he asked. Astrid let out a groan reliving the memory with the women. "I take it that it didn't go well."

"It was awful! I know they mean well, but they're acting crazy!" she shouted before sitting down at the dining table. "I just want something simple. I don't want something big, colorful, and heavy like these women wore."

Asmund gave her a weak smile then walked back in his room. Astrid heard her father shutting drawers before he walked back in the front room. She saw him holding a folded piece of brown clothing. "I don't know why I didn't think about this before, but I think you're about your mother's size when we got married." He unfolded the clothing to reveal a dress.

Astrid got up from her chair to get a closer look at the dress. It was the perfect dress. The dress was made out of light brown fur, it had a small V cut on the chest, the sleeves went down to the wrist, and it had a thick black leather belt around the waist. Astrid took the dress out of her father's hand to feel the soft fur. "I love it," she whispered looking down at the dress. "I'm going to try it on."

"Go ahead," her father replied with a smile. Astrid took the dress and walked into her bedroom shutting the door behind her. A few minutes later, Astrid walked out of her bedroom wearing her mother's dress. Asmund looked at his daughter in awe. He smiled as she took a few steps closer to him. "Wow, I never realized how much you look like your mother."

Astrid wrapped her arms around herself feeling her face getting warm. "Really?" she asked with a small grin.

"She was about your age when she married me. I remember how much she wanted to become a shield maiden just like you do."

"Mom wanted to be a shield maiden?"

"Oh yeah, in fact I met her when she was training. I was about fourteen years old, and I was walking in the woods one day. Your mother threw an axe at a tree almost talking my head off. She apologized, and the next thing I know it was getting dark and we were still talking. Ever since then, I walked her to training every day, and we ate together almost every night. You're a lot like her in many ways."

"I didn't know mom was a shield maiden." Astrid remarked, but her father shook his head.

"She never became a shield maiden, but she was about to be. Not long after her fifteenth birthday we got engaged, but while we were married I encouraged her to stay in training. After we found out you were coming along, your mother decided to quit training and put her focus on you." Asmund explained with a smile, but he noted his daughter looking down at the floor.

"So, I'm the reason why mom never became a shield maiden?" she asked.

"What? No, it wasn't like that," he got on his knees to look at his daughter. He rested his hand on her shoulder getting her attention. "Your mother loved you so much that you became more important than becoming a shield maiden. Sometimes parents need to sacrifice their own dreams to help their children get theirs. Your mother never regretted having you, or never becoming a shield maiden. That's how much she loved you." After finishing his statement, he saw a weak smile growing on her face.

She cleared her throat and took a step back away from her father. "I should get out of this dress; I got plans today with Ruff."

"Oh okay, um…then I suspect I'll see you later tonight." He said getting off of the floor looking down at Astrid. She nodded before walking into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

~oOo~

Later that night after Hiccup and Toothless flew around the island at sundown, they went to the cove. While Toothless was drinking out of the pond, Hiccup heard another dragon not far away from the cove. Hiccup turned around and saw the blue Deadly Nadder getting ready to land. He walked over to the Nadder watching her rider mounting off. "Are you stalking me?" he asked with a smirk.

"No, you're just really predictable." Astrid replied with a small smile.

"So, what brings you out here late at this hour?"

Astrid's smile faded giving him a glare. "Don't talk like that, it's weird."

"Sorry, I just always wanted to say something like that." He said before clearing his throat, "but really, what's going on?"

"I just want to talk about…stuff."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Astrid let out a sigh. "Let me ask you something. Have you ever wanted to hit someone so badly, but you couldn't?"

"What did Snotlout do?"

"It's not Snotlout; I would hit him in a heartbeat. The people I want to hit are these annoying adults that I can't touch because one of them is in the councilmen."

"A councilman? Who in the councilmen?"

"Spitelout, he's trying to convince the rest of the councilmen that we did something. Your dad and Gobber have been trying to convince him that we didn't. Once Snotlout told his dad what the twins said, he tried to get me out of any shield maiden practice."

"What? He can't do that!"

"He tried, I heard him talking to your dad about how 'I'm no longer a maiden after next month, so I should stop training', or 'if there's a chance that my purity has been ruined, then I should get married right away'. I just don't get why he's doing this!" she shouted making the dragons look at her. She let out a huff and sat in front of the pond crossing her arms and legs.

Hiccup let out a sigh and took a seat next to her. "What did my dad say?"

"He tried to tell him that this whole situation was a big misunderstanding, and that the date for the wedding stays the same. I'm just mad that these so called 'mature adults' are taking Spitelout's side over Stoick's."

"How many people are listening to Spitelout?" Hiccup asked fearing what he would hear.

"Oh not a lot, I'd say about ten, maybe twelve people, Mildew's been having a field day about it. There are just enough people talking to make me go crazy. Dad thinks he's mad because he chose you over Snotlout, but I don't know if that's it or not." Astrid replied throwing a pebble in the pond. Hiccup shrugged as he pulled his knees to his chest to rest his arms on them.

"Maybe it'll die down in a few days, like you said; it's just a small amount of people who are talking about it."

"Talking about what? Oh, you mean this?" she pushed her finger on his bruise making him gasp in pain.

He pulled her hand away and covered his bruise feeling the pain shoot out across his neck. He turned to glare at her, to only see her smiling. "Glad to see someone's feeling better, even though it's because of the pain in my neck!"

"Well you're a pain in mine." She said with a smirk.

Hiccup let out a light laugh before pulling his hand away. "Okay, okay, I should have seen that one coming." He got up from the ground and held out his hand to Astrid. She grabbed it and pulled herself up from the dirt ground. "I'm sorry that all of this happened." He stated watching her brush the dirt off of her skirt.

"You're sorry? I'm the one that landed on your neck." She said walking up to him.

"Yeah, but you know how clumsy I am. If I didn't fall-"Astrid put her hands on his shoulder and shook him a little.

"Hiccup, just stop, it's no one's fault, not mine, not yours, maybe the twins, but that's how it happened. I just wish that some of those people were smart enough to not believe the twins."

"Well like you said before, maybe Spitelout's just mad that Snotlout wasn't chosen, and this is just his way at getting back at your dad. I mean who knows why he's doing this; I don't understand Spitelout's logic. Heck, I don't understand Snotlout's logic. It must be a Jorgenson thing."

Astrid breathed out a laugh and walked over to Stormfly who was resting by Toothless. "I have to say, I do feel better after venting. You're an easy person to yell at."

Hiccup shrugged, "yeah I get that a lot." He grumbled walking up to Toothless who greeted him with a purr.

"You know what I mean." She mounted on Stormfly looking down at him. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said before she patted Stormfly's neck letting her know she was ready to head home.

Hiccup watched them fly off when he heard Toothless purring behind him. He turned around and scratched the top of his head. "This is going to be a long month."

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time.**

 **Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: A little time skip here from the previous chapter.**

* * *

After a few more weeks of prepping, it was finally the day of the wedding. All the snow had melted and the sun was beaming down, but there was still a cold breeze around the village. That morning, Hiccup laid on his back staring at the ceiling. He could feel the anxiety and nausea in his stomach. Toothless must have felt the unease from his rider because he gently rested his head on Hiccup's chest. The boy patted the dragon's head as he purred with concern. "I'm alright bud; I'm just feeling nervous about this."

The teenager let out a loud groan as he kept stroking the black scales on his dragon. His father must have heard his groan because he walked up the stairs asking "are you alright son?"

Hiccup sat up and Toothless moved his head so his rider could move. The boy sat at the edge of the bed and looked up at his father. "You know dad, I understand why I'm doing this, but I still feel strange about it. I've been preparing myself for this day, so why do I feel weird?"

"Maybe because she's your friend, and you don't see her as anything else." Stoick said looking down at his son. Hiccup looked to the floor as he listened to his father. "Son, what you are feeling is completely normal. I even felt like this on my wedding day, knots were in my stomach, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and felt like I was going to barf!" Stoick explained as he sat next to his son and patted his back.

"So what did you do?"

"Well, I panicked inside at first, but when I saw your mother walk in…..I knew that I was making the right choice."

"What about tomorrow and years later? How did you know you made the right choice?" Hiccup asked his father. Stoick thought about how to explain this, and then he got an idea on how to make his son understand.

"Marriage is like riding a dragon. It's rough at first, but you never stop trying to figure out how to make it comfortable for the both of you to fly. After days, months, and even years of practice, the both of you start to understand how to communicate with each other when you're in the air. Think of the metal connecting rod representing your troubles. Sometimes it's shiny and strong, but other times it gets rusty and breaks. That's when you try to fix it, but you know that it will get rusty again. So you don't stop trying to get back that strong bond, and every time you make it stronger, it will last longer than it did before."

Hiccup smiled, that actually helped a lot. "Thanks dad." He said with a smile and received a hug from him.

"And besides, no one is telling you to change your friendship with her. I'm not expecting you two to do anything tonight."

Hiccup pulled away from his dad, looking up at him with wide eyes. "What?! If you're not expecting Astrid and me to do anything, then why were you giving me those terrible talks?"

"Well I had to, it's part of tradition. Also it's fun to torture you." He said with a chuckle. "Remember when I gave you the talk for the first time when you were twelve? You couldn't look at Astrid or Ruffnut without blushing for two weeks!" he said before letting out a laugh. Hiccup let out a growl reliving the memory.

"Those were the worst two weeks of my life." He grumbled as his father continued to laugh.

Once Stoick calmed down from his laughter, he gave his son a pat on the back before getting off the bed. "Alright enough of that, let's get you ready."

~oOo~

"I have to say it, I feel sorry for you." Ruffnut said as she watched Astrid's hair getting done in her room.

"You feel sorry for me?" Astrid asked feeling Mrs. Thorston pulling a knot in her long hair. She heard a small "Sorry Astrid" from the woman behind her as she tried to comb out the tangled hair.

"Well yeah," Ruffnut crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. "I mean, if I found out that I had to marry Hiccup, I would die."

Astrid cocked a brow at her. "Ruff, _you_ used to have a crush on him."

Ruffnut felt her face get warm. "I-I did not," she stuttered.

"Yes you did dearie, don't you remember?" Mrs. Thorston said pointing the comb at her daughter. "It was sometime around when you kiddos were doing Dragon Training. You and your brother came home and I remember you saying 'I think I have found my future husband'." She said trying to do an impression of her daughter. Astrid bit her lip trying to hold in her laughter when she saw Ruffnut's face turn bright red.

"That-that could have been about anyone mom." Ruffnut stuttered trying to defend herself.

"No it wasn't, because…." Mrs. Thorston then turned her attention back to Astrid's hair. "Oh never mind," she said combing the bride's hair.

"Mom…how do you even know that I had a crush on Hiccup?"

Mrs. Thorston cringed before answering. "I read your private journal," she muttered as kept combing the blonde hair that was in front of her.

" **Mom**!" Ruffnut cried stomping her foot on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I was curious! You weren't telling me anything. A mother needs to know these things."

"Plus, she wasn't very subtle with her flirting." Astrid added giving her friend a smirk.

"Oh what do you know about subtle flirting Ms. I-kissed-the-same-guy-two-times?!" she shouted before leaving the bedroom. Astrid and Mrs. Thorston let out light laughs and continued to get Astrid ready.

"Good thing she doesn't know it was really three." Astrid said making Mrs. Thorston chuckle.

~oOo~

A couple of hours later, the ceremony ended and everyone stayed at The Great Hall. People stopped talking about the bruise incident, expect for Mildew. He kept trying to convince Stoick that Hiccup was not a proper heir because he kept breaking traditions. Stoick kept telling the old man to stay out of their family business, and that it was a false rumor.

While everyone ate their meals, Stoick and Asmund talked as they watched their newly wed children hanging out with their friends. "Do you think anything will change soon?" Asmund asked looking at his daughter smiling as she talked with the other teens.

"It's hard to tell. Best friends getting married are rare. The only thing I can promise you is that their friendship might grow stronger. Personally, I don't think my son's mature enough to think about having a 'true' marriage. It's one of the main reasons why there will be no witnesses tonight. Neither one of them are ready for something like that. There are too many risk involved for them." Asmund nodded in agreement as he watched the teens laugh. He knew he must have missed something that was said because all of them were having a laughing fit. His smile grew as he watched his daughter smiling and laughing. Then his smile faded when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Yes Stoick, you say your son is not mature enough for something like that, but if you ask me it has already been done." The chief and Asmund turned around and saw the cranky old man leaning on his staff.

"How many times do I have to tell you Mildew? That was just a rumor that started from miscommunication. I know my son; he would never do anything like that."

"Yet he befriended all the dragons, and no one thought he could do that."

"That's different Mildew," Stoick replied crossing his arms over his chest. "My son knew what dragons were capable of, and we haven't seen any raids since. What you're talking about is something that they both must agree upon, let alone be mature enough to be ready for. There is no connection to your reasoning."

"Let's not forget that both things were forbidden. Now that dragons are roaming free around the village because of your son, he thinks he can do anything against the law or immoral with that girl."

"Now you listen here old man!" Asmund shouted making almost everyone in the hall turn their heads to the three men. "I don't care what you think happened, but if I hear you say anything like that about my daughter and son-in-law again. I will hunt you down and personally harm you. You got it?" he threatened shoving his finger in Mildew's chest.

"Stoick, are you really going to let this man threaten me like that?"

The chief shrugged and took a step closer. "I don't know Mildew; I think Mr. Hofferson is being quite generous compared to what I would do." He replied with a smirk.

Mildew's eye went wide, and then he frowned at the two men. "Bah fine, defend the little law breakers. Just wait and see what this village will look like once they take over." He walked out of the hall leaving Mr. Hofferson clinching his fist. Stoick put a hand on his shoulder and he relaxed from yelling at the crusty man. Everyone went back to what they were doing once Mildew was out of the hall. Astrid got up from her seat and walked over to her father.

"What was that all about?" she asked looking up at her father who was now covering his mouth with a rag.

He coughed then wiped his mouth with the rag before answering. "Nothing you should be worry about. I'm going to head home, you sleep well Astrid." He said wrapping an arm around his daughter before leaving The Great Hall. Astrid watched her father before going back to her seat. When Asmund was outside, he looked in the rag and saw crimson. He let out a sigh and walked back to his house. He wasn't sure how much time he had left, but at least he knew his daughter would be taken care of.

~oOo~

Later that day, Stoick stayed at The Great Hall while Hiccup and Astrid went back home. The two newly wed teens walked back to the house with their dragons. When they walked in, Toothless fallowed, but a squawk was let out behind them. Astrid turned around and saw what the problem was. "Sorry girl, the door isn't big enough for you. You can either go home with dad and sleep in your pen, or sleep out here." Astrid suggested to the Nadder. Stormfly let out one last squawk before walking away from the door to sleep by the side of the house.

"Looks like we have to build a new pen for Stormfly soon," Hiccup commented. Astrid nodded in agreement then shut the door. Hiccup took off his heavy black vest and laid it on the dining table. "Do you want to get dressed first?" he asked pointing to the stairs.

"Oh yeah," she walked up the stairs hearing Hiccup call out for her to come back down so he could get dressed next. She yelled out "okay" once she reached the top of the stairs. When she got upstairs, she saw lit candles all around the bedroom. She also noticed that the small bed was replaced with a much larger one. Then she saw a new dresser in the corner of the room. She slid out a drawer and saw that her clothes were folded in it. She was able to find her long night gown and her rob. She got undressed then put on her night gown and wrapped her rob around herself. After she put her dress away, she walked down the stairs seeing Hiccup throwing a fish in the air for Toothless to catch. "Your turn," she said walking up towards him.

Hiccup turned around to look at her and nodded. He picked up his vest from the table and walked up to his room. It didn't take long for him to get ready for bed; he put on his regular clothes minus the vest. "So, what do you want to do?" he asked walking up to her.

Astrid shrugged and sat by the fire pit. "I don't know. What do you do for fun here?" she asked watching him poking at the dying fire.

Hiccup let out a sigh and shrugged before setting the poker down. "Nothing you'll find interesting. I normally stay in my room and draw out plans to make Toothless' tail better."

"Can I see them?" she asked making him raise a brow at her.

"Seriously? You actually want to see my plans?"

"Yeah sure why not? I mean they can't be that bad." She said getting up from the floor.

"Well alright then, everything's upstairs." He told her getting up to walk up to his room. When the teens walked up the stairs, Toothless fallowed to get on his rock bed. Astrid waited in the corner of the room watching Hiccup getting his journal. "Here you go," he handed her his brown leather back journal. Astrid gave him a weak smile and walked to the bed and sat on the end of it. Hiccup sat next to her watching her turn each page to explain each plan.

"You know Hiccup, you can use your ideas to not just improve Toothless flight. You can improve the whole village." She said turning to the next page.

"You think so?"

"Hiccup, if you can come up with this, I can only imagine what you can come up with for the village." She said closing the journal and handing it back to him. "Have you shown your dad these?" Hiccup shook his head and got up to put it on his desk. "Well you should. I'm pretty sure he would agree with me."

"I don't want to show my dad these." He muttered walking back to the bed to sit next to her.

"Why not?"

"He wouldn't care, you know how he is. He doesn't do well with change. He's still trying to adapt with dragons living here." Astrid nodded dropping the conversation. The two of them sat in silence hearing Toothless' light snores. "So, my life's pretty boring uh?"

"You're not boring, Hiccup-"

"I didn't say _I_ was boring! I said _my life_ is. You think I'm boring?!" he cried out defensively.

Astrid bit her lip trying to think of something to say. "Okay, first off you're overreacting, and I didn't mean it like that. It's just that there's nothing to do and I'm not tired yet. I'm just little bored."

"Well, what do you want to do in the meantime?" he asked. Astrid got up from the bed and paced around the room wrapping her arms around herself. Even in the dim lighting, he can see the red growing in her face. He wasn't so sure what she was thinking, but he finally put the pieces together. He shot up from the bed feeling his own face burn. "Oh, whoa, whoa! You're not suggesting….?" He didn't need to finish the question because she knew what he meant.

"Of course not! We barely talked about it, and we agreed to see if we felt close enough to do anything like that!" she shouted throwing a pillow at his face.

Hiccup huffed and set the pillow back in its place. "So…How do you feel about it anyway?"

Astrid shrugged and sat back down on the bed. "I don't know, I mean I feel a little closer, but not enough." She answered then she heard a sigh of relief from him before sitting down next to her.

"I have to be honest; I was scared that you would be ready for it while I'm not."

Astrid crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why would that scare you?"

Hiccup shrugged and rubbed his hands together nervously. "I don't know…. I just thought that…if you were ready, that I have to…"

"Hiccup, even if I was ready. I would never let you do that if you didn't feel ready." She saw him raise his head up to look at her, then went back to look at the ground. "We agreed to see how we _both_ felt. I'm your friend first, and as your friend I want to help you, not put pressure on you."

Hiccup nodded and muttered "same here."

Astrid let out a sigh and rested her hand on his back. "How about a new plan?" she suggested making him turn his head to look up at her.

"Okay, what's the new plan?"

"We don't do anything, until we both feel ready. Not 90% ready, not even 99%, we should both be 100% ready. There should be no hesitation if we ask one another if we're ready. If one of us is ready and the other isn't, then we wait. How does that plan sound?" she asked seeing a small smile grow on his face.

"Yeah, that sounds great…and it might take us ten years before we both feel like doing that," he added.

Astrid shrugged with a smile. "Then that's how it happens."

"So do you want to play 'what would you do?' until we fall sleep?" Hiccup suggested making Astrid breathe out a laugh.

"That sounds great."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for anyone who thought that something was going to happen. I said I wanted to work on the relationship and that's what I'm going to do. Now like I said before, this story is going to follow season 1 and 2, and that's going to start in the next chapter.**

 **I'm not going to copy every single detail from the show because it is an AU. I want it to be a little original with something familiar.**

 **So until then I'll see you next time, Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, so I noticed I've been updating every other weekend. I try to do every weekend, but my college work comes first.**

 **Anyway, this chapter starts off in episode 1 of Riders of Berk, I still haven't decided if I want to put Race to the Edge in this AU yet. We'll see how this story flows :).**

* * *

Stoick woke up in his seat in The Great Hall with some men passed out on the floor. It wasn't the first party that people would get so dunk that they would fall to the floor and sleep. Stoick let out a groan and rubbed his eyes before getting out of his chair. He cracked his neck and stretched out his tight muscles before getting out of his chair to leave the hall. When he walked to the door and opened it, the rising sun hit his eyes making him squint as he walked down the stairs to go home. He noticed Stormfly curled up sleeping by the house before he walked inside.

When he walked in, he could hear the Night Fury growling in his sleep upstairs. He almost thought about walking upstairs to wake the two teens up, but he grabbed his axe that was hanging on the wall, and then walked out letting the two teens sleep in. When he shut the door behind him, he didn't realize he made the young girl upstairs stir in her sleep. Astrid let out a groan and buried her face in the pillow. For some reason her pillow was hard, she thought their pillows would be softer than the ones her father had bought.

She shrugged it off and placed one of her hands to rest it by her head. When she put her hand on the pillow, she noticed how strange it felt. She moved her hand away from her face a little bit, and noticed how it was a little softer. Then she moved her hand back closer to her face and she felt something hard again. She was trying to figure out what this pillow had in it. It almost felt like…what was that? It felt like a…bone, and what was that sound?

Then she felt her pillow raise her head up without her control. She opened her eyes to only find a pair of legs that didn't belong to her. She turned her head to the other direction and saw the bottom of Hiccup's chin. Astrid's eyes went wide and she pushed herself up quickly looking down at Hiccup sleeping on his back. Once she was off of him, he turned to his side having his back facing her as he continued to sleep. Astrid felt her stomach flip once she realized that she slept on him all night. She was trying to remember what happened last night. The last thing she remembered was that they were playing 'what would you do?', and feeling tired and trying to keep her eyes open.

She must have fell asleep sitting up and fell forward on him. Just the thought of that made her stomach turn. She could only imagine how embarrassed he must have felt. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel uncomfortable around her.

Astrid got up from the bed and walked down stairs. She tightened her robe around herself before she walked out the front door. The air was cold, but the sunrise was worth it to be outside. She walked to the side of the house and saw her dragon waking up. "Hey girl, did you sleep well?" Stormfly nudged her rider in the stomach before getting off the ground. "I'll be right back girl. I need to get dressed before we go out flying."

Astrid walked back inside and heard movement upstairs. She walked up the stairs to see Hiccup putting his vest on and Toothless stretching out before getting up. Hiccup turned his head to the stairs and saw Astrid. "Oh hey, I was wondering where you went."

"Getting ready to go out flying?" she asked making Toothless' ears perk up.

"Um yeah…you want to join?"

Astrid nodded. "Sure, just let me get dressed first, and I'll meet you down stairs."

"Okay," Hiccup turned his head to face Toothless. "Come on, Toothless." The young boy walked down the stairs and his dragon jumped to the bottom to get in the front room. Astrid found her favorite outfit in the dresser. Once she put on her clothes, she put her nightgown and robe away. She pulled her boots on and walked down the stairs seeing Hiccup fixing up Toothless' saddle. Hiccup heard footsteps and pulled his head up seeing Astrid in her normal wear. "Ready to go?" he asked walking to the door. Astrid nodded and the three of them walked out seeing Stormfly waiting for them.

When the two were both mounted on their dragons, an idea went through Astrid's head. "Hey, how about we make this a little interesting?"

Hiccup looked up at Astrid with a smirk, "I'm listening."

"How about we do three laps around the island? Last one to The Great Hall has to get the winner's breakfast."

Hiccup thought about it, and smiled. "Okay, and just to let you know, I like my eggs scrambled."

"Oh, so it's going to be like that?" she asked playfully. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to crush you like in every competition."

"We'll see about that." He smirked before they went off.

~oOo~

The twins, Fishlegs, and Snotlout sat at their usual table eating their breakfast. Only a few of the people were eating while the others were doing their daily tasks.

"Do you guys think anything's going to change since Hiccup and Astrid are married now?" Fishlegs asked before taking a bite out of his meal.

"Shut up Fishlegs," Snotlout groaned.

"Whoa, what's your problem?" Tuffnut asked Snotlout.

"He's mad because the girl he's been chasing since we were thirteen is married now," Ruffnut replied.

"Oh please Ruff; it's not even a real marriage. Trust me, give it a few months. They'll be splitting up after Mr. Hofferson is dead."

" _Snotlout_!" Fishlegs gasped.

"I didn't mean for it to sound like that! I'm just saying the only reason they got married is so Mr. Hofferson can die in peace. No one said that they had to stay together." Snotlout pointed out before taking a drink.

"So if you're not upset about the wedding, what are you upset about?" Tuffnut asked.

"It's my dad, he's still mad about Mr. Hofferson choosing Hiccup."

"I thought he was over that," Fishlegs said.

"No, he was just done venting at the villagers. I'm still hearing about it at home." Snotlout grumbled before taking another bite out of his meat. Then they heard the large double doors open and saw their other two friends walking in with their dragons.

"I won fair and square, which means you need to get my food." Astrid gloated with a smirk.

"Are you kidding me? You made Stormfly spine shot at us at the last minute!" Hiccup proclaimed gesturing to him and the Night Fury.

"Hey, we never ruled out not using any combat tactics." Astrid pointed out before walking over to the table where the others were at. "By the way, I like my eggs scrambled too!" she shouted giving him a playful smirk. Hiccup let out a sigh and shook his head. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight; he might as well give in. He walked to the other side of the hall to get their breakfast once Astrid took a seat at the table.

"Wow Astrid, your first morning as a married couple and you already got him whipped." Ruffnut chuckled after hearing their little argument.

"Oh please, that's how our relationship has always been. Nothing is going to change after one day," Astrid explained.

"Really? Your relationship is going to be the same? Even after what you guys did last night?" Ruffnut asked making her bother drop his fork. Snotlout coughed on his food, and Fishlegs turned bright red at Ruffnut's question.

Astrid's face turn a little pink, but she shook it off. "Oh guys grow up!"

"I'm eating! I don't need mental images right now!" Snotlout shouted gesturing to his plate.

"Mental images about what?" Astrid heard the nasally voice behind her. She turned around and saw him holding two plates. He set one plat in front of her before taking a seat next to her.

"Nothing," Astrid replied before picking up the fork that was on her food. Hiccup shrugged it off and took a bite of his eggs.

"Oh," Hiccup swallowed before speaking. "I was thinking, maybe we should do a best trick competition after we're all done eating." Hiccup suggested seeing the others agree.

"I can't wait to show you guys how much Hookfang and I are in sync now," Snotlout gloated.

"Oh, so the both of you are setting yourselves on fire now?" Astrid asked making the proud teen glare at her.

~oOo~

"So looks like I won that time." Hiccup said proudly as he saw Stormfly flying next to him.

"Okay, I have to admit. You two are still the best….at _tricks_." She said hearing Hiccup let out a light chuckle.

"Says the girl who always gets second place," Hiccup replied with a smirk.

"Not this morning I did." She said before Stormfly flew past the Night Fury. Hiccup lightly smiled before Toothless caught up with them. Toothless landed in the plaza just as Astrid was dismounting. "Hey, I'm going to see dad." She said once Hiccup was back on the ground.

"Do you want me to come?" he asked as they walked towards Asmund's house.

"Sure, my dad doesn't hate you yet," she playfully joked. Hiccup rolled his eyes as he followed Astrid to her old house. While they were walking, Hiccup noticed some of the villagers having trouble with the dragons. He saw a man yelling at a Monstrous Nightmare on his roof, another trying to pull a bag of apples out of a man's hand, and a woman yelling at a Deadly Nadder for running threw her clothes liner. Astrid saw some flying shadows on the ground knowing what it meant. She grabbed Hiccup's arm and pulled him in her father's house. Stormfly went in her pen as Toothless followed his rider.

Once they were in the house, Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her. Astrid saw the look he was giving her and she put her hands on her hips. "What? It's three o'clock, you know what that means. Did you want me to leave you outside?" she asked before walking away from him to look for her father.

"Oh….well then, thank you for that." He said watching her as she knocked on her father's bedroom door. They heard a groan from the other side of the door. Astrid cracked the door open and saw her father lying in his bed with a rag in his hand covered in fresh blood.

"Dad?" Asmund heard his daughter. He turned his head and smiled seeing his daughter and son-in-law standing in the door way.

"Hey, how are you two doing?" he asked hoarsely. Astrid bit her lip before walking closer to him. She almost felt nervous being near her father in this state. Hiccup stayed by the doorway watching Astrid kneeling by the bed.

"Have you gotten out of bed today?" she asked seeing her father trying to sit up.

"No I haven't," he answered before letting out a cough.

"Do you want me to get you something to eat?" she asked only to see her father shaking his head.

"No, I'm not really hungry right now." He replied before turning to his side to go back to sleep. Astrid let out a sigh before getting up from the floor. She was hesitant to leave her father alone; she knew how much he needed her right now.

"Um…you know Astrid," the young girl turned around looking at Hiccup. "If you want to stay here you can, no one is going to stop you."

Astrid gave him a weak smile. "I know, and you two can leave once you guys are ready. I'm going to be here for a while."

Hiccup nodded and took a step back. "Okay, so I'll see you…"

"At dinner," she finished for him. "I'll see you later at The Great Hall for dinner." She saw him nodding in agreement before walking out of the house with Toothless. Astrid turned once the front door was shut. She pulled a chair from the dining table and set it in her father's room. She placed the chair at the foot of her father's bed and sat down.

~oOo~

Later that night, Astrid did what she said and she would do ate with their friends at The Great Hall. She barely touched her meal and turned her meat over with her fork. She had sat in that chair all day waiting for her dad to wake up. All she did was to help him out of bed a few times so he could relieve himself. She had never seen her father so helpless in her life. She kept encouraging him to eat something, but he kept telling her he didn't have an appetite. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone say her name.

"Astrid, are you feeling okay?" Fishlegs asked.

Astrid kept staring at her meal until she heard someone say her name. "Uh what?" she asked lifting her head up.

"You haven't eaten anything," Fishlegs gestured to her now cold food. Astrid shrugged and put her fork on the plate.

"I don't feel like eating." She mumbled before getting up from her seat.

"Are you sick?" Ruffnut asked only to see Astrid shake her head before getting up from her seat.

"I've got to go. I'll see you guys later." Astrid mumbled before walking away from the table. Hiccup watched her walk to the giant double doors. He got up to chase after her and caught up with her on the stairs outside of the hall.

"Astrid!" the young girl stopped walking down the stairs and turned around. She saw Hiccup walking down the stairs to get closer to her. "You don't have to do this, we're here for you. You can talk to us."

"You didn't see what I see. I have never seen my father like this. I need to be with him, and he needs me now more than ever." Hiccup could hear her voice thickening, and even in the dark he could see tears forming in her eyes. Astrid let out one last sigh before finishing. "I just want my dad back." She hung her head down feeling a hot tear going down her face. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to stop the tears.

Hiccup pressed his lips together. He didn't completely understand her situation, but he could imagine what it would be like if it was his father dying. He walked back down one more step to stand next to her. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. Astrid tensed at his touch before hugging him back. She placed her chin on his shoulder feeling one of his hands resting on the back of her shoulder pad. She heard the 'click' sound when his ring met with the cold metal of her armor.

He let out a sigh before releasing her. "Come on," he started his way down the stairs.

Astrid raised a brow watching him go down the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"Going back home to help you pack your clothes. You're going to move back into your house." He stated as he kept walking down the stone steps.

Astrid gasped and ran down the stairs to go after him. "Hiccup, wait. You know you don't have to do that." When she finally caught up to him, she grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.

Hiccup gave her a weak smile and pried her hand off. "I know, but you need to be with your dad, especially right now. The only reason why we got married was so your dad knew someone was taking care of you. Now you need to take care of him."

Astrid stared at him with wide eyes, and then she felt a smile growing on her face. Then she turned to the hall and shouted "I'll be right there!" Hiccup watched her go back inside and then came back out with Toothless and Stormfly. Then the two teens walked to the Haddock home to pack up Astrid's belongings.

~oOo~

After Astrid folded her last shirt, she looked up to find Hiccup picking up a pile of her clothes. She walked up to him and placed her hand between his shoulder blades. Hiccup turned his head and saw her smiling at him. "Just, thank you for understanding why I have to leave."

Hiccup shrugged and started to make his way to the stairs. "It's not a big deal; I would have done the same thing." Astrid gave him a week smile then picked up her folded clothes. When the teens walked out of the house, Stormfly and Toothless followed their riders to Astrid's old home. He opened the door and Astrid walked into her old room and put her clothes away. Hiccup followed and set the pile he had on the bed.

"Again, thanks for understanding."

"Hey, I get it. So I'll see you tomorrow."

Astrid nodded at him. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." she lead him out the door and he walked home.

~oOo~

When Stoick returned home, he put his helmet on the table and sat down. He let out a deep sigh and rested the back of his head on the chair. When he heard the door squeak open, he lifted his head up to only find his son and Night Fury walking in.

"Oh, I was wondering where you went." Stoick spoke as he looks behind his son expecting to find someone with him. "Where's Astrid? Did she go back to The Great Hall?"

Hiccup let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that….she's with her dad."

"Oh, well that's not a problem. Just make sure she walks in the house quietly when I'm asleep. I need enough energy for tomorrow; I need to store up for the freeze." Stoick stated as he shut his eyes.

Hiccup let out another nervous laugh and started to play with his hands in front of his chest. "Yeah, about that….she won't be sleeping here. She's going to be with her dad all night, maybe for a few days."

"What?" Stoick opened his eyes seeing his son running up the stairs. "Hiccup, come back down here!" Stoick got up from his chair and walked to the bottom of the stairs. He saw his son walking back down the stairs and he stopped mid-way looking down at his father. "What is going on?"

"Well dad you see-"

"The truth Hiccup," Stoick interrupted making his son sigh in defeat.

"Astrid wanted to be with her dad to take care of him. I know that by law we should be living together, but she should be taking care of her father right now. So we packed up her clothes and she and Stormfly went back to their house."

Stoick frowned at him, then lout a sigh. "I think you made the right choice."

Hiccup was taken back at his father's comment. He raised a brow and took a step down the stairs. "Really? You think I did the right thing?"

"Son, she needs to be with her father. Anyone would agree with that, but this discussion isn't over yet. We'll talk more about it in the morning. Now I'm going to sleep. Good night son," Stoick walked away from the stairs heading to his bedroom.

"Alright, night dad," Hiccup went back up the stairs to his room with Toothless fallowing him. Hiccup took off his vest and hung it on the headboard. Toothless went to his rock bed and curled up before he started to sleep. Hiccup lay down on the bed pulling the cover over him then started to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so what do you guys think? I was thinking about making this chapter longer, but I thought you guys waited long enough. Chapter 8 will follow episode 1 in case anyone was wondering.**

 **So until then, I'll see you guys next time. Bye!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the wait. I might have to put this story on hold for a while because I got a lot of studying to do. I'll try to do my best to multitask, but I don't think I can.**

 **So, enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

The next morning, Astrid woke up in her bedroom. She rubbed her eyes trying to get the dry crust out of them. She filched at the touch of the cold metal of her ring when it brushed against her face. She pulled her left hand away from her face to look at the ring. Astrid pulled her ring off and started to play with it between her thumb and pointer finger. While looking at her ring, she thought about her wedding and wedding night. She thought about how nervous she felt, but she didn't understand why. She knew he wouldn't do anything to her; he was her best friend and nothing else, but she couldn't help but think about the "what if" scenarios.

Like what if she married someone she barely knew, would he keep his distance or force himself on her? What if her father picked one of the other guys? Would any of them let her move back in with her dad to care for him? Or what if she and Hiccup didn't listen to their feelings and decided to be with each other? Would they become closer or distant from each other? Just the last thought made her stomach curl. Astrid shook her head trying to get the thought out of her mind.

She breathed out through her nose before putting her ring back on. She got up from her bed and made her way to her father's room. She hadn't told him that she had moved back in yet. She wanted to tell him last night, but she didn't want to wake him. Astrid slowly opened her father's bedroom door and saw him sleeping. Astrid shut the door quietly before walking back in her room to get dressed. After she cleaned herself up, she walked out of the house and greeted her Nadder. "Hey girl, want to stretch out your wings before we fly?"

She could tell Stormfly understood her. The blue Nadder walked out of her pen and nudged her rider. Astrid responded by patting her horn before mounting on. While they were in the sky, Astrid noticed a group of people gathering in front of the food storage. Astrid told her dragon to land to see what was going on. Once she dismounted, she saw Stoick and Gobber disputing with Mildew. Then she saw Hiccup running to where his father and Gobber were and stood in front of them to look at the crowd.

"They don't mean any harm. They're just dragons being dragons." She heard Hiccup say as she tried to get through the crowd.

Stoick put his hand on his son's shoulder and stood in front of him. "Look Mildew, if there's a problem, I'll deal with it."

"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick." Mildew growled as he put his face in front of the chief's. Then he turned to the crowd to finish his statement. "And I think I speak for everyone when I say, you better do something about it."

While Mildew was leaving, the crowd started to shout at their chief. Both Hiccup and Gobber glared at the people who were declaring that Mildew was right.

While Hiccup was looking at the crowd, he saw Astrid, and he ran to her. "What is going on?!" Astrid shouted over the crowds shouting. Hiccup grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crowd so he could hear her. Astrid repeated her question once they were far from the riot.

"Oh some dragons were at Mildew's house last night. The dragon must have been eating his cabbages…again. " He answered.

"So pretty much nothing new," Astrid replied.

Hiccup shrugged before a thought came to him. "So, how's your dad?"

Astrid let out a sigh and hung her head down. "Pretty much the same as yesterday, not better, not worse, just the same." She muttered thinking about her father lying in bed with that blood filled rag. Hiccup looked at her and put his hand on her shoulder pad. Astrid lifted her head up, but kept her eyes on the ground.

"I'm really sorry Astrid, I really wish I could help." He saw her wrap her arms around herself as she stared at her boots.

Astrid lifted her head up giving him a weak smile. "I know you do, but I need to clear my head before I go back home."

"Do you want Toothless and me to go with you?" Hiccup asked gesturing to the Night Fury that started to make his way to the teens. Astrid looked at the two of them before nodding.

"Yeah," she answered with a whisper. Hiccup gave her a small smile before they made their way to leave the plaza. While they were walking with their dragons, Spitelout saw them. He made no thought of it until he noticed something. He smiled then he saw his son walking towards him.

"Hey dad, what are you so happy about?" Snotlout asked before opening the door to their house.

"Oh I just happen to notice something about that Hofferson girl that you've been chasing." Spitelout answered as he walked in the house.

Snotlout let out a groan as he picked up his sword. "May I have to remind you dad, she's no longer a Hofferson. As much as I hate to say it, she's a Haddock now." He grumbled looking up at his father.

"Well whatever her last name is, do you realize she's still wearing her kransen! You and I both know what that means." Spitelout said proudly crossing his arms over his chest. Snotlout looked at his dad for an explanation. Spitelout let out a groan realizing that his son didn't understand what he was saying. "She still sees herself as an unmarried woman! Wearing that kransen shows she wants out of the marriage."

Snotlout rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, I doubt that dad. I mean, she's still wearing her wedding ring. If she really did want to be single again, she wouldn't be wearing that ring."

"Yes, but by law she has to wear it." Spitelout replied making his son roll his eyes.

"Dad, can we please just drop this? Even if they didn't do anything, I can't just flirt with the chief's daughter-in-law." Snotlout almost cringed saying the last part.

"So, you don't think they connected with each other?" Spitelout asked his son.

The teen shrugged. "I mean…. I don't know. Hiccup just doesn't seem to be that kind of guy to man up."

"Well, you never know. They might get a divorce once Mr. Hofferson is dead. I saw her walk out of her father's house early this morning, she may have moved back in with him."

"Or she's just visiting," Snotlout added with a groan. "Look dad, I appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but as much as I hate to say it, she's married. I lost my shot with her. Mr. Hofferson chose Hiccup, and Astrid agreed."

"Yes but son, she only agreed to marry him for her father," Spitelout added.

Snotlout shrugged at his father. "I guess," he mumbled. Spitelout let out a light chuckle and patted his son's shoulder.

"Just you wait, son. Give it a few months and she'll be begging to get out of that marriage."

~oOo~

Later that night, Hiccup invited Astrid to eat over at his house. As much as Astrid wanted to stay home, she thought she should come over to relieve some stress. The two teens got to the house before his father did. Hiccup made some stew, and put the pot over the fire pit so it would be warm for his father. While they were eating, the door swung open and the chief and Gobber walked in the house. "Hey dad, how's chiefing?"

Stoick let out a groan and pitched the bridge of his nose. "It was fine until Mildew stirred up the village."

"Do you want to club him upside the head?" Gobber asked as he took a seat. Stoick glared at him before he took a seat in his chair. "Hey Hiccup, can you hand me that block of wood by ya?" The teen picked the wood and handed it to the blacksmith. Gobber pulled out his knife and started to carve knowing this was going to be a long night of yelling and venting.

About an hour later, Hiccup was cleaning up from dinner as he heard his father coming up with ideas to fix the dragon problems. "We can't just let dragons run wild like they own the place," Stoick said as he paced around the room. "Hey, we could put of signs." Stoick suggested seeing that Gobber was almost done with his carving.

"Signs? For dragons?"

"No, for the people."

"Signs? For Viking? You know we're not big readers Stoick."

"Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza."

"Nets? You do know they breathe fire?"

"I know very well they breathe fire, Gobber!" Stoick growled, "Maybe Mildew's right!" he shouted pushing a chair away from him at Hiccup's feet.

"No, dad, wait. What if I deal with the dragons?" Hiccup asked as he moved the chair to set it back up right.

"You?" Stoick asked his son.

"Who else? If anyone can control them, I can. I'm the best man for the job." Hiccup said as Toothless circled around his rider.

"You're not a man yet Hiccup, at least not by age and maturity." Stoick pointed out looking down at his son.

"If I may add sir," Astrid spoke out getting her chief's attention. "Hiccup is the only one who can control the dragons. I mean, before we left the island to help you and the others fight off that Queen. He taught us how to bond with the dragons we have now. If there's anyone you have to choose to help with dragon problems, it's Hiccup." Astrid saw Stoick press his lips together before letting out a sigh.

"Alright Hiccup, you deal with the dragons in the morning." Stoick announced before leaving the room to get ready for bed.

"Don't worry dad, you won't regret this!" Hiccup shouted as his father walked away.

"I hope you know what you're getting into Hiccup," Gobber said as he looked at his wooden-carved duck.

"Oh come on, how bad can it be?" Hiccup asked seeing Gobber answer with a shrug.

"If you say so Hiccup," Gobber said getting up from his seat to leave the house. After Gobber shut the door, Astrid got up from her seat to get ready to leave.

"Oh, hey Astrid," the young girl turned her head to look at her friend. "Do you want to give your dad a bowl?" Hiccup asked putting the ladder in the steaming pot.

"Sure why not, maybe he'll eat tonight." She said seeing him making a bowl of stew for her to take. Once Hiccup handed her the bowl of stew, she said her goodbyes as Hiccup lead her out the door.

~oOo~

Asmund rubbed his head as he woke up. He looked around the room and saw the open widow to only see bright stars. Then he heard the front door open and shut. "Dad? You up?" he heard his daughter's voice behind his bedroom door.

"Yeah, I'm awake." He grumbled as he tried to sit up straight. Astrid opened the door and held out her hand that was holding the steaming bowl with a spoon in it.

"I got some stew for ya," she said softly.

Asmund's eyes widened and he sunk back down to lay on his back. "Oh um…I'm not really hungry-"

"Hiccup made it," Astrid added seeing a change in her father's manner.

"Oh well, in that case, I'll take the stew." He said holding out his arms for the bowl and spoon. Astrid shook her head before handing him the bowl.

"Am I that bad of a cook?" she asked watching her father put a small spoon full in his mouth.

Asmund shook his head and swallowed. "No Astrid, you're that _horrible_ of a cook." He said with a raspy voice giving her a weak smile.

"Hey!" she shouted with a laugh in her tone.

"Well I'm sorry baby, but you burn water. Everyone is bad at something, yours just happens to be cooking." He said hoarsely before taking another spoon full. "Wow, who knew that boy could cook? At least I'll know you will get decent food to eat and not that old stuff from The Great Hall." He put one last spoon full in his mouth before handing his daughter the bowl. Astrid set the bowl on the night stand and sat on the end of the bed.

"This is off topic, but I need to tell you something," she said. Asmund gave her a nod to continue. "Last night, Hiccup and I talked. We thought it was a good idea that I move in to take care of you." She said seeing her father's eyes grow wide.

"Astrid….you know-"

"Dad, before you say anything else. We already packed my clothes, and I slept here last night. Our decision has been made; you can't change my mind on this." Astrid looked down at her father waiting for him to start an argument. Asmund open his mouth to speak, but he let out a sigh instead and nodded.

"Okay, but I'm only agreeing with you because by law you're no longer under my authority. If this is what you and Hiccup agreed upon, then I guess I have no say about it." Asmund said hoarsely before lying his head back down on the pillow.

"Thank you dad for understanding," Astrid sighed in relief before standing up from the bed.

"I didn't say I understood, I said that I have no say about what you do anymore." He stated roughly before he let out a cough. Astrid turned to ask her father what he meant, but she saw that he was already asleep. She had never seen him fall asleep so fast. She let out a sigh before she picked up the full bowl from the night stand. She threw the rest of the stew out the window and placed the bowl on the dining table.

~oOo~

The next day, Astrid left the house that afternoon and saw the rest of her friends gathering at the watch tower. She mounted on Stormfly and they flew to the watch tower. "What are you guys doing up here?" she asked as she dismounted her Nadder.

"Hiccup's been trying to control the dragons all day. It's pretty amusing," Tuffnut said as he watched the scrawny teen struggling to catch a flaming sheep with a bucket of water in his hands.

"Wow, he could really use our help," Astrid stated as she put her hands on her hips.

"We'll get to it," Tuffnut said.

"In a minute," Ruffnut added watching Hiccup dumping the water on the sheep. The teens then saw a group of dragons flying over them.

"And it's three o'clock." Astrid announced as they saw everyone else take shelter besides Hiccup. Astrid and Fishlegs cringed as a pile of dragon dung landed on Hiccup's head. Snotlout and the twins burst out laughing watching the teen as he walked to the beach to wash his hair.

"I bet you don't want to touch that hair again, huh Astrid?" Snotlout laughed only to see the blonde teen frowning at him.

~oOo~

Later that evening, Hiccup dried his hair with a towel before sitting on his bed. He let out a groan feeling his muscles ache as he moved. "Oh, everything hurts," he whined to his dragon. "Even this," he said unstrapping his prosthetic leg.

"Hiccup?!" he heard a feminine voice call out as he heard the front door open and shut. Hiccup's eyes grew wide and he put this prosthetic back on.

"Astrid? Perfect," he groaned getting up from his bed to brush dirt off of his tunic. "I don't look too beat up do I?" he asked the Night Fury. Toothless gave him what looked like a sympathetic smile. "Oh great, dragon pity," Hiccup mumbled as he heard foot steps behind him. Once he heard the footsteps stop behind him, he turned around and smiled through his pain. "Oh hey Astrid, what a nice surprise!" he smiled feeing pain shoot in his muscles as he moved.

"So, how was your day?" she asked crossing her arms and giving a smirk.

"Uh, uneventful, hung around the plaza. You know?" he said straightening himself up trying not to fall from the aching pain shooting down his back.

"Yeah I do know," she said before picking dirt off of his vest. "We saw you out there; it's hard to believe you're still standing." Then Hiccup let out a large groan and fell on his back landing on the bed.

"I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month," he moaned feeling the muscles in his back starting to relax now that he was lying down, and then heard his father's booming voice downstairs calling for him. Hiccup got back on his feet and saw his father walking up the stairs.

"Hiccup, what's going on out there? The plaza looks like a war zone!" Stoick shouted looking down at his son.

"I know it looks bad," Hiccup said trying to defend himself to his father.

"Really bad," Astrid whispered so only Hiccup could hear.

The teenage boy ignored her and continued to talk to his father. "But this is only uh…phase one of my master plan." He stammered before seeing his father's face lighting up.

"Oh, so you do have a plan."

"I do….Of course I do!" Astrid wasn't buying what Hiccup was saying. It was obvious that he was just winging it. "It's very complex, lots of drawing, several moving parts….yeah, it's, uh, pretty wild."

"Uh-huh. Well, this better be real… because Mildew stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads." Stoick said before he left his son's bedroom.

Hiccup watched his father going down the stairs as he heard his dragon's low growl. The teenage boy walked over to the Night Fury. "Don't worry, bud. Your head's not going anywhere." He petted Toothless head making him purr.

"You do realize there are, like a bazillion dragons out there, and only one of you? I hope you really do have a plan." Astrid said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are you saying you don't trust me?"

"No, I'm just saying you're a horrible liar. You need to think of something." She said brushing her bangs away from her face.

"Don't worry; I will…..Well, enough about that. How's your dad?" Hiccup asked as he rubbed Toothless' head. Astrid let out a sigh and sat on the end of bed.

"He's not doing so well, but he ate for the first time in days last night." She said leaning over to rest her arms on her knees.

"Well hey, that means something right?" Hiccup asked walking towards her. She shrugged and looked up at him.

"Not really, he only ate a few bites. I had to throw the rest of the stew out." She said before looking down at the ground. "He's pretty much the same," she mumbled seeing Hiccup sitting next to her.

"If there's anything you want me to do to help-" Hiccup started to say, but Astrid shook her head.

"No, I need to do this. He's my father, I need to do this alone." She said before getting up from the bed.

"No you don't, Astrid." Hiccup stated looking up at her. "You don't have to go through this alone. We're all here for you. If you need any help-"

"Hiccup, you handle the dragons, I'll handle my dad." She said making her way to the stairs. Hiccup got up from the bed and was hesitant to chase after her. He just froze in place watching her go down the stairs.

~oOo~

Astrid walked back home with Stormfly. The air was colder than it was when she entered the Haddock home. When they got home, Stormfly walked into her pen when Astrid opened the door. Once she was over the threshold she called for her dad. She shut the front door and made her way to his room. "Dad, you awake?" she asked as she opened his bedroom door.

"Dad?" she asked again seeing her father in bed in the dark room. She called for him again before she lit the oil lamp on his night stand. When she lit the lamp, she saw his face was pale and he wasn't moving. She shouted for him again, but this time she shook him.

She felt her heart pounding and her stomach doing flips as she shook him vigorously. Then she heard a cough, and then she saw him opening his foggy blue eyes. Astrid let out a sigh of relief tying to slow her heart-rate down. She fell on her knees and rested her head on the bed. She could feel her heart beating rapidly as she felt her stomach continue to turn. She moved her head to rest it in her hand as she heard her father's voice asking her what happened. She realized at that moment, she really couldn't do this alone.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm not going to lie, I thought I would be writing around episode two by now, but that's not happening.**

 **Also, if you have no idea what a kransen is, it's that leather band Astrid wears around her forehead. It symbolizes an unmarried woman, (and that she's a virgin if I'm not mistaken).**

 **Anyway, I'll do my best to study and write at the same time. I normally do my writing late at night anyway.**

 **So, I'll see you guys next time. Bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I got this chapter done a little early, this chapter was fast for me to write compared to the others for some reason. I'm so glad that I got my psychology paper done and turned in today so I can finish up chapter 10.**

 **Well, on with chapter 9!**

* * *

The next morning, Hiccup woke up to his dragon jumping around the room. Hiccup knew he must have slept in because Toothless wanted outside. Hiccup swung his legs over the edge of the bed and strapped his prosthetic on. Once he was standing, Toothless jumped off the loft waiting for Hiccup to walk down the stairs. The teenage boy put his vest on and walked down the stairs seeing his anxious dragon wanting to go outside.

"I'm coming, I'm coming Toothless." Hiccup grumbled as he walked to the front door. Once he opened the door, the black dragon ran outside and bounced around the house. Hiccup called for his dragon and Toothless stood in front of his rider ready for him to mount. Hiccup got on his dragon and they flew around the island seeing the people coming out of their homes to start their day.

Once the Night Fury did his single lap around the island, Hiccup told his dragon to land by the Hofferson home. Toothless let out a purr when his rider dismounted. He saw Stormfly still sleeping in her pen before he knocked on the door. It took a while, but he heard footsteps coming towards him. The door slowly opened and he saw Astrid cracking the door open to see who it was. "Astrid? Are you okay?" he asked seeing her not wanting to open the door all the way. He couldn't see all of her; he only saw her eye that was shining from the morning sun.

"Are you alone?" she asked. Hiccup raised a brow and nodded. Astrid opened the door a little wider and pulled him in. Once he was inside, she slammed the door shut. Hiccup saw only her backside before she turned around to face him. He saw her braid was a mess and she was still in her nightwear.

"Astrid?" the girl let out a sigh before turning around to look at him. The young girl wrapped her arms around herself feeing truly weak for the first time.

"I thought I could handle this," she breathed.

"Astrid, what happened?" Hiccup walked up to her.

"My dad….last night," she was having a hard time finishing her statement when she felt a lump grow in her throat.

Hiccup felt his heart drop. "Oh my gods, is he-"

Astrid shook her head. "No, but I thought…." She let out a shaky sigh. "I can't believe I'm actually admitting this, but I'm scared." She saw her vision getting blurred. She tried to stop the tears, but they fell anyway.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have suggested you to move back in-"

"No, I needed to move back in. My dad needs me. He doesn't have anyone else to take care of him."

"But Astrid, look at you!" he gestured to her making Astrid cross her arms in disgust. "You're hair's a mess, you're crying, and you're still wearing your nightgown at eight o'clock in the morning! Have you even eaten yet today?" Before Astrid could reply, they heard Asmund calling for his daughter. Astrid started to walk to him, but she was stopped when Hiccup put his hand on her shoulder. "Let me see what he wants, you just get dress and clean up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he answered before making his way to Asmund's room. When he opened the door, he saw the ill man trying to sit up straight. Hiccup noticed how thin he was now, and his hair seemed finer than usual. He never noticed the man's hair because he always had a helmet on. When Asmund turned his head towards the door, he saw the teenage boy standing in his room.

"Oh hey son, what are you doing here, and where's Astrid?" Asmund asked with a raspy voice.

"Oh um, I came by to see how Astrid and you were dong. Astrid is getting dressed right now, so I thought I could help you with what you needed," Hiccup answered.

"Well, can you hand me my ink and feather, and my journal over there?" Asmund asked pointing to his table on the other side of the room. Hiccup walked over to the table and handed Asmund's his journal and set the ink and feather on the night stand. "Thank you lad, now I know Astrid is under a lot of stress. Honestly, if I had a say on this 'moving in to take of me' thing. I would have said no."

Hiccup raised a brow at him. "Why? Don't you want Astrid to be here?"

"Hiccup, I had taken care of both of my parents on their death bed, my in-laws, and even my own wife. I know what this is going to do to her. This is going to hurt her emotionally and mentally. She hasn't even thrown her axe since all of this happened. When my wife died, Astrid was only four years old. My parents had to take her in for a while because I was too distraught to care for my daughter. I was twenty when I watched my wife die. If I couldn't think straight back then, think what this might do to Astrid at fifteen."

Hiccup let out a sigh and looked at the ground. He had no idea what Asmund had seen, if he knew he was against Astrid staying here, he wouldn't have let her. "I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"Why would you? I haven't even told Astrid the truth. After her mother died, we just told her that she was just spending the night at her grandparents' house for a couple of days. She doesn't know what I did to make her stay with them." Asmund looked at his hands as he remembered the day his mother took Astrid. He let out one last shaky sigh before he coughed in his rag. "There is one thing I want you to do for me." Hiccup nodded waiting to hear what his father-in-law was going to tell him. "I want you to get Astrid out of the house. I don't care what you two do; just let her have a stress-free day for once."

Before Hiccup could replay, Astrid walked in the bedroom giving her father a weak smile. "You okay dad?"

"Yeah, just talking with the lad," Asmund replied with a smile. "Hey, why don't the two of you go out?"

Astrid's smile faded and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you sure dad?"

"I'm positive, go out with Hiccup, your friends, and Stormfly, and throw that Thor forsaken axe of yours!" Asmund told his daughter with a smile.

Astrid looked at her father with concern. "Really? Are you sure you'll do okay without me?"

Asmund rolled his eyes. "Astrid we could do this all day. Go out today and please just have fun."

Astrid gave him a small smile. "Okay, I'll see you tonight, bye dad." She said as she made her way to leave his room.

"Bye Astrid," he said as he saw his daughter grabbing her axe before leaving the house. Before Hiccup left the room, he heard Asmund saying his name to get his attention. "Hiccup, I don't care who you think who is the strongest is in your marriage. Just promise me you'll take care of my daughter."

Hiccup nodded and said "I will, I promise. Bye Mr. Hofferson," Hiccup walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

~oOo~

Gobber was sharpening an axe when he saw his chief walking by. "Hey Stoick, you got time to talk?" he asked before mounting the axe on the wall.

"Um sure, I can spare a few moments. What's on your mind?" Stoick replied walking over to the forge.

"I'm having a hard time with what you said to Hiccup the other night." Gobber answered with a little fear of how Stoick would react.

"What are you talking about? What did I say to Hiccup that you didn't like?"

"Well….You practically called your son, your _married_ son, a kid."

Stoick was taken back at what Gobber was saying. "What? I did no such thing!"

"You told your son that he's not a man because he doesn't act mature enough, and because he's fifteen! Do you see your son as a man only because he's wearing a ring now?"

"Gobber, you and I both know that Hiccup still acts like a child in some areas."

"Yes, it's called being free spirited." Gobber snapped at his friend.

Stoick let out a sigh before he would explain himself. "Gobber, do you see Hiccup as a man? I mean a _real_ man?"

"Well, before I answer your question. Answer me this old friend, what do you think a man is?" Gobber asked seeing Stoick pressing his lips together trying to think of the right way to answer.

"A man is someone who can fight on his own, who knows responsibility, and can defend others and his village." After Stoick answered Gobber's question, he realized what he was saying described his son. Stoick looked at the ground as he let out a groan. "Alright, I see your point. I was out of line for saying Hiccup wasn't a man, but can you blame me? Even if he does have the characteristics of a man, he still acts like a child."

"What fifteen year old lad doesn't!? Stock, he's a teenager. He's no longer that little boy that started a fire because he tipped a candle over with his elbow. He's going through a hard time right now. He's trying to support his wife in the only way he thinks is best. If that's not the acts of a man, then I don't know what a man is!"

"Well what do you want me to do?" Stoick asked putting his hands on his waist. "I can't take back what I said! I can't help it if I still see my son as a boy!"

"I think you need to show your son how important he is. He still views himself as a screw-up, and I can't blame him for thinking that." Gobber suggested seeing his old friend stroking his beard. Stoick smiled once he thought of an idea.

"You know Gobber, you're right! I need to show Hiccup that he does play an important role for the village, and I think I know just what to do."

~oOo~

Astrid threw her axe over her shoulder aiming at the tree. "Wow, I forgot how good it feels to throw this thing." She said with a smile as she walked to the tree that her axe was stuck in. She grabbed the handle of her axe to pull it off the tree. "You want to try?" she asked looked at Hiccup who was leaning against his dragon. Hiccup's eyes grew wide after hearing her question.

"Um….I don't think that's a good idea." He stammered rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh come on, if you can sharpen an axe, you can throw one." She said shoving the handle of the axe in his gut. He let out an "oomph" when the wooden handle met his lower abdomen. "Try to aim at that tree." Astrid said pointing to the tree in front of them. Hiccup tightened his grip the handle of the axe and struggled to pull it up by his shoulder. Astrid tried to hold her laughter seeing him trying to throw the axe. When he threw it, the axe landed a few inches away from the tree trunk. Hiccup heard his dragon laughing behind him at his failure.

Astrid let out little a laugh as she made her way to her axe stuck in the cold ground. "Okay, I saw several things wrong with your form." Astrid said as she handed the axe back to him. "You're left handed right?" she asked seeing how he was holding the handle.

"Um yeah," he replied. Astrid nodded and adjusted his hands on the handle. Hiccup felt his heart flutter when she touched his hands. He tried to ignore the feeling because all she was doing was fixing his posture to throw an axe, not wanting to hold his hand.

Once she got his hands on the handle right. She put her hand on his chest, and the other on his back to straighten himself. Astrid then moved her hand that was on his chest, to his stomach so she could fix his slightly arched back. He felt butterflies in his stomach, and heat rise in his face when she pushed her hand in his abdomen. He knew Astrid was giving him tips on his form, but he was having a hard time listening. It was a good thing Astrid was looking down so she wouldn't be able to see how red his face was.

"Alright, I think you're good," he heard her say. He let out a deep breath trying to control the coloring in his face. Then she grabbed his forearms and adjusted them over his head. "Okay, now try to throw." Hiccup threw the axe, this time it landed by the roots of the tree. He let out a low growl seeing the work of his weak throw.

"Well, it's better than last time. Looks like you just need to work on your upper body strength a little more." She told him as she walked to pick up her axe. Then they heard a dragon flying towards them and saw Meatlug and Fishlegs landing by them.

"I've been looking all over for you two! I thought Meatlug's wings were going to fall off," Fishlegs said.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked walking up to the Gronckle.

"Stoick wants all of us at the Arena," Fishlegs answered.

"Why?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know, Stoick just said that he wanted the six of us at the Arena. He said he'll explain when we get there." Fishlegs said before Meatlug hovered over the ground to take off. The two just stared at each other and shrugged before mounting on their dragons.

~oOo~

When Toothless and Stormfly landed by the Arena, the two teens noticed that the villagers were outside of the Arena. Hiccup saw Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut standing in the middle of the Arena with Gobber. When he walked inti the Arena, he was trying to figure out what they did wrong.

When Hiccup and Astrid walked up to the twins and Snotlout, they asked if they knew what was going on. The three of them shrugged and shook their heads. Then Meatlug and Fishlegs showed up, and the boy walked up to the rest of them.

"Hey Gobber, do you know why everyone is here?" Fishlegs asked the blacksmith.

"Sorry son, I can't say anything until Stoick is here." He answered just before the chief walked in.

"I know you're all wondering why I called you here today." Stoick started with as he walked up to the six teens. "You are all young men and women, even though most of you don't act like it." He mumbled the last statement before he continued. "You are all learning your place in the village, and I know what would be perfect for the six of you. That is why-"

"You're getting a Dragon Training Academy!" Gobber shouted with a smile. All the teens looked at each other enthusiastically. The villagers gasped and chattered at what the blacksmith had just blurted out.

"Gobber! I wanted to tell them!" Stoick shouted behind his friend.

"Oh sorry…well you can tell them how proud you are of them!"

"Gobber!" the chief shouted before letting out a groan. He turned to the smiling teenagers and let out a sigh. "Well um…what he said." He smiled looking at the six teens. "All of you have helped us defeat the Red Death, and you are all learning your place in the village, and this Academy is just the beginning. You all are learning how to be men and women of Berk, and learning to be responsible for this village. This Arena now belongs to you, and the Academy is now your responsibility." Stoick finished with a smile hearing the crowd cheering around them.

"Dad, are you serious?" Hiccup asked keeping his grin on his face.

"Yes son, and I was out of line saying you weren't mature enough to be called a man. I want you to start leading the next generation, starting by training your friends." Stoick replied putting his hand on his son's shoulder.

~oOo~

After everyone left the Arena, Astrid and Stormfly went to the Hofferson house. Still excited about the Academy, she burst through the door and shouted for her father. "Dad! You won't believe what just happened!" she shouted as he walked up to his room.

When she opened the door, she saw him lying down on the bed with his journal lying across his chest. "Dad wake up, I need to tell you what Stoick did." Astrid saw that her father was still. She put her hands on her hips before she shook his shoulder. "Dad, come on, wake up. I need to tell you something."

When she moved his shoulder, his arm fell limp revealing his bloody cough rag. Astrid's eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. Before she could react she heard distinctive footsteps entering the house behind her. She turned her head and saw Hiccup standing in her front room. After she looked at him, she quickly turned her head away and she saw her vision blur.

She heard Hiccup running into her father's room. He placed two of his fingers in the hollow part of Asmund's collarbone to feel a pulse. She saw Hiccup's face fell and she knew the truth of her reality now. She tried to hold in her sobs, but it came out without her control. The two said no words as the weight of the news was too much.

Astrid fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. She bent over trying to take deep slow breaths, but each one came out as a whimper. She felt Hiccup kneeling next to her as he placed a hand on her back. Keeping her head down to the floor, she leaned up against him as she poured out her feelings. She felt his thin arms pulling her towards him as she tried to muffle her cries in her hands.

Hiccup tried his best hold to his sobs as well, but he buried his face in her shoulder feeling the hot tears going down his face as he cried. They both knew this day was coming, but it was still hard to grasp that the Great Asmund Hofferson was dead.

* * *

 **A/N: Yep, so that's how the teens got the Academy in my AU. Hate it? Love it? Like it? I really don't care it's my AU. (Just kidding :), but seriously it is my AU so I can do what I want!)**

 **So yeah, Stoick still sees his son a boy, and not a man. (What parent doesn't?) But yeah, even though this is a Hiccstrid story. there are still going to be family elements in here too.**

 **Anyway, I'm in the middle of writing chapter 10 right now. I have no idea when it will be done.**

 **So, until then I'll see you next time. Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, but hey I got some good news! After this Monday (October 12th) I will only be going to my Tuesday and Thursday classes! Which means more time to write!**

 **Of course studies come first, so please be patient with me. You guys have been so** **awesome being patient with me as I write, get proofread and edit.**

* * *

After Stoick found his son and daughter-in-law in Asmund's room, he led the grieving teens back to his house. When they were in the Haddock home, Stoick went back to Asmund's body. He set the journal that was on Asmund's chest on the night stand before he pulled the cover over his face. Stoick slowly walked out of the house to get to the forge. He told Gobber to get a funereal boat ready for Asmund.

Later that night, Gobber, Stoick, and Spitelout put Asmund's body on the boat. They set his hands on his chest and covered his body with a white sheet. Astrid watched as they prepared her father's body. Then the three men pushed the boat to sea. All the villagers grabbed their bow and arrows and set the tips on fire. Stoick put a hand on the mourning girl's shoulder telling her to set her bow.

With a lump growing in her throat, Astrid put the tip of her arrow in the fire and aimed at the sailing boat. She shot the arrow and it landed by her father's body. The rest of the villagers shot their arrows to the boat, and some of them landed in the water by the flaming boat. Hiccup and Stoick stood next to Astrid as they watched the blazing boat getting smaller and smaller until there was no light in the ocean.

Before the family headed back home, Astrid took one last walk around her old home. Memories flooded by as she looked around the front room. She remembered birthdays, her grandparents telling her stories, Snoggletog mornings, and even her first attempts at cooking and her father's face when he would taste it. She walked into her bedroom and saw how empty it was now. She opened all of her draws to check if anything was forgotten when Ruffnut and her mother moved her stuff back to the Haddock house. She saw her axe leaning on the wall; she picked it up before leaving her room. Before leaving the house, she took one last look at the front room.

She took a deep breath feeling the hot tears forming. She put her hand on the handle of the door and she walked out shutting the door behind her. She saw Hiccup and Toothless outside of her old home waiting for her with Stormfly. "You know Astrid, if you need to stay here one more night-"

Astrid shook her head. "No, I know my father wouldn't want me to stay here by myself." She let out a shaky breath as she mentioned her father.

"Are you sure?"

Astrid nodded making her way to pet her Nadder. "Okay, um…whenever you're ready we'll go home." Hearing Hiccup say that made her truly realize her life now. He and Stoick were her family now, but it was hard to grasp that the last member of her blood family was gone. She nodded and they made their way to the house by The Great Hall.

When they got to the house, Stormfly curled up outside by the side of the house. The teens and Toothless entered the house and saw that the fire pit was dying. "I'll wait down here so you can get dressed." Hiccup mumbled looking down at the ground. Astrid walked up the stairs and walked to her dresser. She set her axe by the dresser so it would lean on the wall. She found her long brown nightgown and slipped it on after she undressed herself. She called down from the loft to let him know he could come up. Toothless jumped up to the room to get to his rock bed. Hiccup walked up the stairs seeing Astrid in her nightgown with her hair still in a braid.

Astrid walked to the bed and went under the covers with her back facing him. Hiccup took off his vest, but before he sat on the bed to take his prosthetic off, he wasn't sure how to make this arrangement less awkward. "Oh um…." Astrid turned her head to look up at him. "Do you want me to sleep on top of the covers? I don't know if the both of us sleeping-"

"Hiccup, I don't care either way. Do what makes you feel comfortable." She mumbled turning her head away from him. Hiccup let out a deep sigh and sat on his end of the bed. He unstrapped his leg then lay on top of the covers. He faced the other side of the room so that their backs were almost touching. As they tried to fall asleep, Astrid felt a tear go down across her face landing on the pillow. She wiped it away and tried to go to sleep.

~oOo~

The next morning Hiccup woke up to knocking down stairs. He let out a groan and covered his face with his pillow. Then the knocking got louder making the tired teen let out a growl. He threw his pillow off of his head and swung his legs to the edge of the bed to strap his leg on the stump. After he got his leg on, he walked down the stairs still half asleep to get to the front door. When he opened the door, he squinted his eyes when the sun hit them. He rubbed his eyes to see his four friends standing on the other side.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked picking the crest out of the corner of his eye.

"We wanted to know if you guys needed anything," Fishlegs replied. "Some food, or um….anything really."

Hiccup let out a sigh and leaned against the door frame. "I don't know, I'm not hungry at the moment and Astrid's still asleep. If we need anything I can go get it myself, but thanks for asking anyway." He grabbed the door handle getting ready to shut it until he thought of something. "Actually," he stepped out of the house shutting the door partly behind him. "Mr. Hofferson wrote something before he died. Can you guys go get his journal? I'm pretty sure it's still somewhere in his room."

"Sure, no problem," Ruffnut walked away to go to the old Hofferson house. Snotlout and Tuffnut walked away with her, Fishlegs seemed a bit hesitant, but he followed the others. Hiccup shut the door before he walked back up to his room. Astrid was sleeping on her stomach with her head facing him. He walked to the bed and lay on his back feeling himself dozing off as he rested.

~oOo~

When the four teens entered the abandon house, they had to stop and look to see how different it was. "Man, it's so weird knowing this house might be taken down." Snotlout thought out loud.

"Why would they tear down the house?" Tuffnut asked.

"Duh, because all the Hoffersons are dead!" Ruffnut explained before she walked in Asmund's bedroom.

"What about Astrid's aunt? Isn't she still alive?" Fishlegs asked as he watched the other boys following Ruffnut.

"You mean the Aunt that went crazy because she couldn't find the edge of the world, and then disappeared in the middle of the night seven years ago? That Aunt?" Snotlout asked. Fishlegs pushed his two pointer fingers together thinking about what Snotlout said.

"Yeah, I guess it is more than likely that she's dead uh?" Fishlegs stated as he stood outside of Asmund's bedroom.

"What are you doing standing out there? The room is big enough for you," Tuffnut said.

"I know, but it's just that…..he died in there." Fishlegs whispered the last part.

"Oh come on Fishlegs, don't tell me you think his sprit's in here!" Snotlout shouted seeing the scared teen outside of the open bedroom door.

"No, it's just that….it gives me the creeps being in a room that someone died in," Fishlegs squeaked.

Snotlout rolled his eyes before he saw the journal on the nightstand. "Oh, found it, let's go." He grabbed the journal and walked past Fishlegs to leave the house. Before Fishlegs took a step to walk out, he felt something move across the back of his neck making him run out of the house screaming. Ruffnut and Tuffnut busted out laughing at the screaming boy before she set the feather pin back in the ink.

~oOo~

Snotlout walked to the Haddock house hearing Fishlegs screaming behind him as he ran to his house. Snotlout heard Fishlegs' screams stop after he heard the door of the Ingerman house slam shut. Once he was in front of the Haddock house, Snotlout knocked on the door before entering. "Hey Hiccup, I got what you wanted! Where do you want it at?!" he shouted lifting his head to the loft.

When he didn't get a response he called out again. "Hiccup, did you go back to sleep? I got that journal you wanted!" he made his way up the stairs to get to the bed room. When he got the last step, he saw the two sleeping next to each other. Hiccup was lying on his back with an arm resting on his stomach. Astrid had her head resting on the edge of his shoulder, with her hand grasping his other shoulder.

Snotlout pursed his lips together before walking to the nightstand to place the journal on it. Snotlout let out a sigh before walking down the stairs to leave the house. So many thoughts were running through his head from what he just saw. He would lie if he said it didn't bother him, but it did. Deep down he knew he didn't have a chance when Astrid started to show interest in Hiccup. For years he wanted to be with her, but that was no longer happening. He thought that once Asmund died they would split up, but now he wasn't sure if that was going to happen.

Seeing Astrid looking peaceful in her sleep, (even after her father's death) was enough to realize that she was happy. He hated to admit to himself, but she was better off with _him_. He would never say that out loud, but he knew it was true. There was a hint of jealously seeing Astrid resting on him, but it wasn't a fury jealously. It was more of a disheartening jealousy. Even though he hated that Astrid was married to Hiccup, he knew they would last.

As he made his way back home, Hookfang greeted his rider by nudging him in his side. Snotlout patted his horn before walking in the house. He saw his father walking out of his bedroom as he shut the door behind him. "Ah, there you are! I was about to go out looking for you. I wanted to talk to you about finding out if that girl of yours is pure or not. If she is and she leaves that runt, you might still have a shot with her!" Snotlout looked at the ground hearing his father's words.

The teen let out a sigh before he spoke. "Um….you know dad. I've been thinking….I think we should stop trying to prove what Hiccup and Astrid did or did not do." He mumbled rubbing the back of his neck.

Spitelout narrowed his eyes at his son. "Excuse me? I thought you wanted to marry that girl."

"I-I did-I do, it's just that….Astrid just lost her father, and maybe we should just…I don't know, stop trying to wreck her marriage." Snotlout muttered terrified by how his father would react.

Spitelout crossed his arms over his chest and walked up to his son. "I can't believe I'm hearing this. You have been chasing that Hofferson lass since you started to get an interest in girls. What changed your mind?"

Snotlout shrugged, "Let's just say that I just started to see things the way they really are." He said before he grabbed his sword and stared to walk out of the house. Spitelout stood there dumbfounded by his son's sudden change of thought.

~oOo~

Hiccup felt his head roll to the side making him wake up with a jolt. He let out a sigh and blinked a few times trying to wake up. He rubbed his face with his hand feeling the extra weight on his shoulder. Hiccup turned his head to the side seeing Astrid resting her head on him. Then he noticed her arm lying across his chest with her hand resting on his other shoulder. He didn't know how long he dozed to have her move her head on him, but it felt like it had been a few minutes. He thought about moving her to the other side bed, but he wasn't sure if she was a light sleeper or not.

Not wanting to wake her, he just decided to rest in bed until she woke up. He turned his head to the other side and saw Asmund's journal on the nightstand. He reached out his arm to pick up the leather back journal. When he had the journal in his hand; he noticed his other arm was stuck between them. He slowly pulled his arm out from the slightly tight fit trying not to wake her.

Once his arm was free, she stirred before pulling herself closer to his side. Hiccup bit his lip trying not to move too much to wake her as he opened the journal. He opened to the last page to see where Asmund wrote last. He kept flipping through blank pages until he found an ending to a letter. He turned to the next page to see the beginning of the letter. He looked at the corner of the paper and saw that the letter was addressed to him. He knew if he got a letter from Asmund, then so did Astrid. He turned to the next few pages and saw a letter to her.

Before he turned back to the letter for him, he felt Astrid stirring again. He put the journal back on the nightstand fearing her reaction that he had her father's journal. When she cracked her eyes open, she saw how she was laying. She felt some heat rise in her face as she scooted away from him. "Oh, sorry about that." She mumbled brushing her bangs away from her face.

Hiccup shrugged at her. "Don't worry about it."

Astrid sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then she turned her head towards the nightstand seeing the leather back journal. "Is that….?" She asked pointing to the nightstand.

Hiccup let out a sigh before handing her the journal. "I know, I probably shouldn't have it, but your dad wrote something yesterday. I asked the guys to get it for me."

Astrid reached over him to get the journal. While she was flipping through the pages, Hiccup helped her find the letter that her father wrote to her. When she saw her name in the corner of the paper in her father's hand writing, she felt her heart skip a beat. Hiccup watched her as she read the letter. It felt like hours as she read the letter. After she was done, she swallowed the growing lump in her throat before handing him the journal.

"I'm going to get dressed, and go out for a while." She muttered pulling the blanket away to get up from the bed. Knowing his que, he got up and made his way to the stairs so she could get dressed. Toothless, who was lying on his rock bed, followed his rider to the lower half of the house.

Hiccup fed Toothless some fish while he was waiting for Astrid to come down the stairs. It didn't take long for her to get ready; she was in her usual wear with her axe in her hands. With no words said, she walked out the door, mounted on Stormfly and flew into the woods.

~oOo~

Gobber was piling up rusty old weapons when he saw his apprentice and his Night Fury walking to the shop. "Hey Hiccup, what are you doing here?"

"Oh um….I just wanted to get out of the house." He answered taking off his vest to tie his leather apron on. Gobber watched the teenager walk in the back of the forge. He let out a sigh and walked up to the teen.

"You know boy, you don't have to work. You got The Academy now, and I don't even expect you to do that right now. If you would rather be at home-"

Hiccup shook his head, "No Gobber. I need to do something, and I don't feel like flying right now."

Gobber put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Hiccup, I know you and Mr. Hofferson got close. I know what it feels like to lose someone you care about when you start to feel close to them."

Hiccup let out a sigh before picking up a random sword to sharpen. "I don't want to hear about this Gobber. I just came to clear my head."

"Hiccup, take it from me when I say this. Don't bottle up your feelings like this, it's only going to make you feel worse." Gobber put his hand back on Hiccup's shoulder and turned him around to look at him. "Don't put a lid on your grief, if you need to-"

"Gobber! I just came to clear my head a bit. Can you please just let me work on something?"

Gobber looked at him before handing him a couple of swords. "Here, you can sharpen these." He told him as he went back to throw out old weapons.

~oOo~

Astrid chucked her axe at another tree feeling the sweat beading on her forehead. She wiped the sweat off with her arm before pulling the axe out of the tree. Stormfly was lying on the ground watching her rider leaving her mark in the woods. She let out a grunt pulling the axe out of the tree before she threw it again at another trunk.

She let out a deep sigh as she sat on the ground next to her Nadder. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. "I can't believe he kept that from me," she mumbled. "I mean, all of these years he could have told me instead of writing it!" She shouted before getting up from the ground to throw her axe at one last tree.

Stormfly got up and gently nudged her distressed rider. Astrid let out a sigh and rubbed her Nadder's horn. "I'm sorry girl…I'm just…..I don't know." She gave her on last pat on the chin before mounting on Stormfly. When they landed in the middle of the village, Astrid felt people staring at her. She ignored the people giving her sympathetic looks as she walked to the forge.

She saw the Night Fury sleeping outside of the forge as she got closer. She brushed her fingers on Toothless' head as she walked by him. "Oh hello Astrid!" she heard the blacksmith greeting her as she walked in. The blonde girl gave him a weak smile.

"Hey Gobber," she mumbled.

"Is there anything I can do for ya?" he asked putting a sword on top of hot coal.

"Can you sharpen my axe for me?" she asked gesturing to the axe in her hand.

"Sure, just leave it by the wall." Astrid set her axe to where other weapons were due for being sharpen. Then she walked to the back of the forge to get in the small room that her friend was in. She saw him at his desk focusing on a dagger in his hands. She lightly knocked on the wall making him look up at her.

"Oh hey," he muttered putting the dagger on the desk. Astrid walked closer and picked up the dagger.

"Did my dad give you this?" she asked recognizing the rust stains on the blade and design the handle.

"Um yeah….I thought you knew. He also gave me an amulet. Do you want them? Because I understand if you-"

Astrid shook her head and placed the dagger on the desk. "No, my dad gave them to you. You should keep them."

Hiccup bit his lip as he looked up at her. "Are you sure?"

Astrid shrugged before crossing her arms, "Yeah, I mean, he did give them to you. I think you should have them for yourself." She answered giving him a weak smile. "So, how come you're here and not flying?"

Hiccup let out a sigh. "I don't know….I'm just not in the mood today, I might go later tonight." She gave him a nod as she leaned on the desk. The two just stared at each other feeling the awkwardness of neither of them talking.

"So….I saw that Gobber is making a bunch of weapons. You guys look busy today, a lot of orders came in uh?" she asked trying to break the silence.

"Um, no actually, no one has asked for new weapons for a while. Every once in a while someone will want a sword or an axe sharpened, but other than that it's been quiet here." He answered getting up from his chair walking to the open door. They both watched Gobber put the new sword he finished in a large pile of unused weapons.

"Poor Gobber, there's nothing to do with the weapons now that there are no more dragon raids." Astrid whispered so the blacksmith couldn't hear.

"I know, but he's been doing this most of his life. How can he just stop working here?"

"You did," she replied looking at him.

"Yeah but that's different, I was his apprentice. My dad just made me work here so Gobber could watch me when he was out doing chief business. I was never really devoted to working here my whole life." He whispered watching Gobber picking up Astrid's axe to sharpen it.

"Why not? I mean, you're really good here." She said making Hiccup look at her with a small smile.

"Seriously?" he asked seeing a little pink rise in her face.

"Shut up," she mumbled trying not to smile before she elbowed him in the gut. Hiccup let out a groan as held his stomach.

"What is it with you and shoving things in my gut?" he winced watching her sit in his chair.

Astrid shrugged before she rested her feet on the desk. "I don't know, it's just kind of fun hurting you."

"Well that makes me feel safe around you," he mumbled seeing her smirk at him. "Can you please get your boots off of my desk? I don't want dirt on my papers."

"Alright," she muttered before raising her legs up. Then she felt a shooting pain in her calf making her foot curl. She grabbed her leg and winced in pain trying to move her leg. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" she shouted trying to rub the pain out.

"What just happened to your leg?" Hiccup asked walking up to her.

"I got a cramp in my calf and my foot just turned!" she cried trying to move her foot. Without thinking, Hiccup grabbed her leg and put the bottom of her boot on his chest. He tried to stretch it out and turned her foot to the other side. She kept hissing in pain when he tried to release the tension.

"This is what happens when you don't stretch before going into the woods." He told her as he took off her boot to rub her ankle. Astrid let out a groan not wanting to admit that he was right.

The pain her leg started to settle, but it was still there. She yelled when he pressed his fingers just below her calf. "Ouch! That hurts!"

"Sorry, I'm not trying to hurt you." He explained moving his fingers back to her ankle.

"I know but still, that really hurts!"

"If you two are doing something inappropriate back there, at least shut the door!" Gobber shouted from the front of the forge. The teenagers felt their faces burn and let out a laugh at Gobber's assumption.

"Gobber you're sick!" Hiccup shouted feeling his face burn more. Astrid covered her mouth with her hand trying to contain her laughter. "Something is wrong with you Gobber!" he shouted as he gently rested Astrid foot on the floor. Astrid started to laugh making Hiccup laugh with her.

"I can't believe Gobber, I can't wait to tell Dad what Gobber thought-" she stopped laughing after realizing what she just said. Hiccup's laughter also stopped, and then he cleared his throat trying to think of something to say. "I uh…almost forgot about…you know" she muttered pulling her boot back on her foot.

Hiccup nodded as she got up from the chair. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"It's not your fault." She said before letting out a sigh. "I'm going back to the house, I'll see you later." She walked out of the room to see Gobber handing her now sharpen axe to her. Stormfly saw her rider walk out of the forge and followed her back to the Haddock house.

Astrid walked in the house and made her way to the loft. She put her axe by her dresser before taking off her shoulder pads and spiked skirt. She walked to the bed and took off her boots before lying back in bed to sleep the day away.

* * *

 **A/N: I haven't written chapter 11 yet. I've been editing my speech for my public speaking class (the only class I utterly loath besides math).**

 **Anyway, did you hear about the new graphic novel? It takes place within hours after HTTYD2. It's written by Dean DeBlois and Richard Hamiltion, the writer of Dragons: Race to the Edge.**

 **From how I understand it, it's going to become a series and the first novel is called "The Serpent's Heir". It will be released on April 26 2016 and contains about 80 pages to read.**

 **Anyway, I just wanted you guys to know if you didn't hear about it.**

 **So until then I'll see you next time. Bye!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a short and** **boring. My time was pretty limited last week because my weekend was crazy.**

* * *

The next day, Astrid went back into the woods to throw her axe as Hiccup started The Academy. The teens did basic things like scratching below the dragon's chin to release an object from its mouth. While they were practicing, Hookfang ignored his rider when it was their turn.

"Come on Hookfang; just put the fish in your mouth." Snotlout commanded trying to get his dragon to grab the fish. Hookfang sniffed the fish before putting it in his mouth, and then he spit the fish in his rider's face. The twins laughed as Snotlout pulled the fish away from his face.

Hiccup let out a sigh and walked over to Snotlout. "Okay, let's just try another time."

"Stubborn dragon," Snotlout mumbled then he felt Hookfang's tail whip his back sending him across The Arena. Snotlout landed on the stone wall and slid down to the ground. Snotlout groaned in pain trying to get up from the ground. "Bullseye," he whined.

"Okay! I think we're good for the day. We'll meet back here tomorrow after breakfast." Hiccup stated giving the fish to his dragon.

"Cool, see you later!" Tuffnut shouted leaving with his sister and their dragon.

After Hiccup cleaned up from the day's lesson, Fishlegs walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "How come Astrid didn't show up today?" he asked.

Hiccup shrugged and crossed his arms. "Um, she's just not feeling up to doing any lessons. She's been throwing her axe in the woods and staying at home most of the time. That's just her way of grieving I guess. My dad just told me to give her time to get back to her old self."

Fishlegs nodded, "I can't imagine what she's been going through. I mean, losing the last member of your family like that."

"I know, so I'm not trying to make her do anything. These kinds of things just take time."

"Yeah," Fishlegs agreed before asking his next question. "Oh hey, so what did Asmund write in his journal?"

"Um, you know I haven't read it yet. He wrote a letter to me and Astrid, she read hers yesterday. I don't know what he wrote, but she got really upset and left to go in the woods."

"Maybe he wrote something that brought back memories."

Hiccup shrugged lightly, "Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, I should head home. Dad has to help prepare for a wedding tomorrow, so I'm cooking tonight."

"Oh okay, I'll see you later." Fishlegs walked out of The Academy with Meatlug leaving the boy and his Night Fury.

~oOo~

After Hiccup and Toothless flew around the island, they went back home seeing Stormfly grooming herself outside of the house. When Hiccup dismounted, Toothless ran up to Stormfly and they started to chase each other around the house. When Hiccup walked in the house, he found Astrid sitting on the floor by the fire pit reading out of her father's journal.

When Hiccup shut the door behind him, Astrid raised her head giving him a weak smile. Then she bent the corner of the page to not lose her place. "Hey," she greeted dryly clutching the leather back journal to her chest.

"Hey, when did you get home?" he asked walking to her.

"Just a few minutes ago," She answered looking up at him. She looked down at the journal, then back up to him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You kind of just did," he replied getting on the ground to sit in front of her. "So, what's going on?"

Astrid bit her lip trying to find the right words to say. "If you kept a big secret from anyone because you thought it was best, would you?"

Hiccup raised his eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't understand; are you keeping a secret from me or something?"

Astrid let out a sigh getting ready to get up from the floor. "Just forget it," she mumbled then she felt him grabbing her wrist. She looked down at him just as he let go of her.

"Come on, tell me what's going on." He told her softly. Astrid bit her lip before sitting back down on the ground next to him.

"Okay, so don't act weird when I ask you this because you know it'll happen sometime in the future." He gestured for her to go on. "When we have kids, will you keep secrets from them? Like if you thought they were too young to understand, and you wanted to tell them as they got older, but you couldn't because you thought it was better that they didn't know. Would you keep them in the dark their whole lives even though they should know?"

Hiccup's eye widened trying to process what she just said. "Um, okay…..what?" he squeaked raising an eyebrow.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Never mind, just forget I even asked."

"No it's just…what kind of a secret are we talking about here? I think it kind of depends of the severity of the secret." He answered seeing a little disappointment in Astrid's eyes. "Why are you asking questions about keeping secrets from our…. _kids_?" he felt a little bit of heat rush to his face saying the last word.

"Just forget it, I shouldn't have asked anyway." She got up from the floor and picked up her father's journal. "I'm gonna go out, I'll be back later." She said making her way to the bedroom.

"Okay….Oh hey!" Astrid stopped walking up the stairs midway to look down at him. "Dad is going to be at The Great Hall tonight to help get ready for that wedding tomorrow. I thought we could eat here tonight, do you want me to make something?"

The young girl nodded. "Um, sure eating here sounds fine. I can really go for anything right now." She answered brushing her bangs away from her eyes.

"How does vegetable soup sound?"

She shrugged and nodded, "Sure, that's okay."

"I'll put some chicken in it." He added making Astrid smile weakly before she walked up the stairs to go in the bedroom. As Hiccup watched her go up the stairs, he couldn't help but wonder if it was something that Asmund wrote that made her ask those questions.

~oOo~

Later that night, Hiccup hung the cauldron over the fire bit letting the water start to boil. He set all the bags of vegetables on the dining table just as Astrid walked in the door. "Hey you made it just in time; I was just about to put the chicken in the pot." He said seeing her set her axe on the wall.

"In time for what?" she asked walking up to the table.

"I'm going to teach you how to cook vegetable soup," he announced as he put all the vegetables on the table. Astrid raised a brow as she watched him grab a knife to cut the veggies.

"Are you sure? Even my dad said I was a horrible cook."

"No disrespect to your father, but he didn't know how to cook either. If he did, he wouldn't have been spending all of his time at The Great Hall. Also, he would have taught you himself if he knew how to cook. I on the other hand had to learn how to cook because of dad not being here all the time."

"So if you know how to cook, then why should I? No matter how much I try, I always make people sick."

"That's because you never had someone teach you, that's why I thought we should try soup to help you get started." He replied seeing her shaking her head.

"Are you trying to make me one of those women that cooks and cleans all the time?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.

"What? No of course not! I just thought I should teach you because you might actually be really good at it." He explained putting the chicken in the simmering pot.

Astrid let out a groan and sat down by the table. "Okay, you got an extra knife?" Hiccup handed her a knife and put a bowl and some tomatoes in front of her.

"I find it easier to chop standing up." He told her as he started to chop up some potatoes. Astrid stood up and kept listening to him as they prepared the soup. As they were cutting, Hiccup heard Astrid hiss in pain. He put his knife down seeing her holding her hand.

"Oh Thor, I cut my finger!" she groaned seeing the blood flowing out of her pointer finger. Hiccup grabbed her wrist and dragged her away from the table. He ran up to his room to grab a rag, and then he ran back to the dining area to get a bottle of alcohol. He dribbled some alcohol in the rag, and then he wrapped it around her bleeding finger. Astrid held in her scream feeing it burn in her open wound. He grasped her finger with the rag until the bleeding clotted. "I think I should stop hanging around with you because your clumsiness is rubbing off." Astrid joked feeling the sting in her finger starting to cease.

Hiccup breathed out a laugh before he opened the rag. He set the rag aside to wrap her finger up. "Well, maybe if I keep hanging around you, your strength might rub off." Hiccup tied the end of the white wrap in a small tight bow.

Astrid bent her finger a few times trying to get used to the tight wrapping, and then went back to the table to cook. After all the chopped vegetables were in the bowl, Hiccup checked the chicken in the cauldron. He kept helping her with what to do once the chicken was ready to be chopped.

It took longer than expected, but the soup was finally done. Hiccup made each of them a bowl and gave their dragons a basket of fish. The teenagers ate in almost complete silence. He tapped the tip of his spoon trying to think of something to say.

"So….why were you asking me about keeping secrets?" Hiccup asked seeing Astrid tense up.

"I said to forget about it," she mumbled spinning her spoon around in the bowl.

"Astrid, if something is bothering you, you know you can tell me right?"

She let out a sigh and looked up at him, "I know."

"Then why are you shutting me out?" Astrid could almost hear the hurt in this voice. She wanted to tell him, but she didn't know how.

"I have a lot going on right now; I would think you of all people would understand."

"I do understand, but I also know that talking about it is better than keeping it to yourself."

"You'll treat me different if you find out." Astrid told him just as the front door swung open. Hiccup looked at his father before turning his head back to her.

"No I won't," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. Just as they were finishing up, Stoick walked to the steaming pot to see how much was left. The chief let them go to bed as he was eating dinner, but they had to clean up before they did. After the teens put their bowls away, Astrid went to check on Stormfly as Hiccup went up to the bedroom with Toothless following. When he got in the room, he saw the journal on the bed. He felt tempted to read what Asmund wrote to Astrid. Just as he was reaching out for the leather back book, he heard Astrid's walking up the stairs. He quickly walked to his desk and started to draw in his book. When Astrid got into the room she moved the journal to her dresser.

"Hey," she said softly trying to get his attention. He put his feather pin in the ink, and looked up at her. "I know I've been acting more isolated lately, but please try to understand why. I just need to figure some things out right now, and I don't think you should get involved, at least not right now."

"Will you ever tell me what's going on?" he asked.

Astrid looked at the ground and shrugged. "Eventually, it's just that right now it's hard to grasp what's going on." She saw him nodding trying to understand. "Just don't take it personally why I haven't told you. I mean, I'm still trying to figure it out myself."

"I want to help, but I can only do that if I know what's bothering you." He told her, "If this is about your dad don't try to act tough. It's okay to be upset-"

"This isn't about my dad," she raised her voice a little, but she took a breath to finish, "At least not all of it." She muttered looking down at the ground. Then she heard him get out of his chair, and felt his hand on her shoulder pad. She raised her head seeing the sympathetic look in his eyes.

"Okay, just forget about it. Let's just go to bed and talk more about it later if you want." He said making Astrid nod in agreement.

~oOo~

The next day at sundown, Astrid went to the cove to clean herself up from throwing her axe again. She knelt in front of the lake to clean the sweat off of her face. She heard her dragon squawking at her as she cupped her hands in the water. "What?" she asked her Nadder just before she splashed the water on her face.

"I'm sorry Stormfly, but I need to train. This guy could be on the island, and I don't want anyone to know why I'm doing this." She explained putting her cold wet hand on the back of her neck. She wasn't sure if Stormfly could understand her, but she felt her staring at her. She turned around with a glare looking at the Nadder. "I don't want Hiccup to know right now okay? I know he'll try to stop me. That's why I can't tell him just yet."

Astrid let out a sigh before getting up from the ground. "Let's go home girl." She mounted on Stormfly and they flew back to the village. When she got in the house, she found Stoick dozing off in his chair. She walked up the stairs and saw Toothless resting on his rock bed, and Hiccup lying on the bed reading out of her father's journal.

"What are you doing?" she asked putting her axe by her dresser.

"I decided to read the letter your dad wrote to me," he answered not leaving his eyes from the page. Astrid nodded walking to the desk chair to take her boots off.

"What does it say?" she asked.

"Oh, I just started reading it. Right now, it's just a lot of advice." He replied lying on his back holding the open journal over his face. "Hey, did you hear that Gobber's going to help my dad tomorrow?" he moved the journal away from his face to look at her.

"With what?"

"He's going to be my dad's right-hand man with chiefing," he answered sitting up.

Astrid raised a bow and put her hands on her hips. "Are you serious? Whose bright idea was that?"

"Uh, mine," Hiccup was almost hesitant to answer.

"Hiccup, are you out of your mind? You and I both know how Gobber is!"

"You didn't see what I saw this morning! Gobber was trying to get people to buy his weapons! It's was depressing seeing Gobber acting like a Peddler. I mean it's my fault that he's out of business!" he explained.

"It's not your fault," she softly said walking up to him.

"Yes it is. Gobber taught me everything I know to make Toothless tail, and now he's out of a job!"

"Hiccup, Gobber is out of a job because you ended the war." She said sitting next to him.

"See! It is my fault!" he shouted.

"You know that's not what I meant." She put her hand on his shoulder. "What you and Toothless did changed our way of life. Gobber just needs to adjust just like all of us did. I don't know, maybe Gobber being Stoick's right hand man just might be it."

"That's what I'm hoping for," Hiccup said looking back down at the journal. "So, I'm guessing you've been chucking your axe in the woods again." Astrid nodded in response.

"Yeah, um…I'm pretty tired from it…..I think I'm going to get ready for bed," she said. Hiccup got up and walked down the stairs with Toothless following. As soon as Hiccup was out of sight, Astrid picked up the journal and went to her letter. She ripped out the pages, folded them, and hid them under her clothes in her dresser.

* * *

 **A/N: Just to let you guys know, this secrets stuff is actually the subplot. This is also my first fanfic with a subplot, so please bare with me. I hope you enjoyed and I'll be back in another two weeks (maybe next week if I'm lucky).**

 **So until then I'll see you next time. Bye!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting. I had a crazy week again.**

 **So prepare for some Hiccstrid moments, and the secret of the letter has been revealed.**

* * *

The next morning, Hiccup convinced Astrid to go to The Academy for a change. She decided to go, but she was hesitant. When she walked in The Academy, the other teens smiled and walked up to her.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Fishlegs asked, but Ruffnut elbowed him in the gut.

"You're such an idiot! How would you feel in her situation?" Ruffnut shouted at the boy.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine," Astrid said with a fake smile.

"Really? Because you've been in the woods every day since your dad's funeral." Tuffnut commented making Ruffnut punch him in the face. Tuffnut cried out in pain holding his nose. Hiccup rolled his eyes and went ahead to start his lesson. While Hiccup was talking, Ruffnut nudged Astrid lightly on her arm.

"So, how come you've been in the woods?" she asked with a whisper.

"I don't want to talk about it," Astrid muttered trying to listen to Hiccup.

"Is this a married thing or a girl thing?" Ruffnut whispered.

Astrid rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Neither, now can we please stop talking about it!" she hissed.

"Okay new teams today!" Hiccup said getting the girls attention, "Snotlout and the twins versus Fishlegs and Astrid." The five teams got in their groups to start their game. While they were playing their game, Astrid felt her competitiveness starting to rise. Every time she and Fishlegs got a question right, she would high five her teammate.

"Alright next question; which dragon's fire would be better to use for lighting torches?" Hiccup asked.

"Monstrous Nightmare!" Astrid and Snotlout shouted at the same time.

"Correct! I'll give each of you a point." Hiccup was about to mark on the stone with the coal and in his journal, but the two started to fight for the point.

"No way! Our team should be the only one to get that point! I have the Monstrous Nightmare!" Snotlout shouted eyeing the blonde.

Astrid scoffed at him putting her hands on her hips. "Oh please, owning the dragon doesn't mean your team should get the point. We should get the point because I shouted it first," Astrid argued.

"By a second!" Snotlout barked.

"Guys, what's wrong with giving both of your teams a point?" Hiccup asked.

"Only one of us should get the point, that's how the game works," Snotlout stated.

"Actually no, the point of the game is to test your knowledge. The team, who loses, has to brush up on their dragon knowledge more than the winning team," Hiccup explains.

"Then why did you put me on a team with these mutton heads?!" Snotlout shouted pointing at the twins.

"Hey, hate the player not the game," Tuffnut said.

"Um, don't you mean don't hate the player hate the game?" Fishlegs pointed out. Tuffnut thought about it and nodded.

"Okay, enough of that, I think this is a good place to stop." Hiccup announced closing his journal and sent the teens out. After the teens left, Astrid and Hiccup stayed behind to clean up. "Why do you and Snotlout always have to be at each other's throats?"

"We've always been that way. It's kind of like how I always punch you after you do something stupid, it's a reaction." She said with a proud smile.

Hiccup laughed nervously as he pushed a barrel by the wall. "Yeah….since you haven't punched me in a while, I'll take that as a good sign."

Astrid breathed out a laugh and smirked. "Well, knowing you, it won't be long before I punch you in the arm again." Hiccup let out a fake laugh before walking up to her. Suddenly, the two heard people yelling in anger outside of The Academy. The two teens walked outside and saw a few of the fishermen venting at the chief.

"How are we going to get our ship now?" one shouted making his face turn bright red.

"Whose bright idea was it to make Gobber do chiefing duties anyway?" Hiccup's eyes widened and he was about to walk away, but his father saw him.

"Hiccup, get over here _now_." Stoick said sternly seeing the back of his son. Hiccup cringed and turned around seeing the angry fishermen and his father glaring down at him.

"Hey dad, what's going on?" he asked rubbing his hands nervously.

"Can you gather the other riders, and try to pull these men's ship out of the water?" Stoick asked with some anger in his voice. Hiccup nodded quickly and grabbed Astrid by the arm as they ran back to their dragons.

"You do realize that your plan has backfired?" Astrid stated when they were away so the men couldn't hear her.

"Why do you think I'm running?" he told her just before he let go of her to mount on Toothless.

~oOo~

Later that night, Stoick made it clear that Gobber will no longer help with chiefing duties. Hiccup felt bad for not just Gobber, but for his father. Now his dad had to fix everything Gobber messed up. After his father went to bed, Hiccup was trying to think of something else for Gobber to do.

"So, what are you going to do?" Astrid asked watching Hiccup work at his desk from the bed.

Hiccup let out a sigh and turned to look at her. "Oh, I don't know. It's just that Gobber needs to do something, I know he'll get depressed if he no longer has a job."

"I'm pretty sure anyone will get depressed if their out of a job." Astrid muttered as she watched him draw in his journal. She got up from the bed and walked over to him. She looked over his shoulder and saw the drawing. "Is that a pen?"

Hiccup jumped a bit and turned his head to look up at her. "Oh um, yeah, I just thought that Stormfly might want a pen to sleep in before it starts to snow again."

"Oh, she'll love it. Do you mind if I tweak it a bit?" she asked picking up his coal pin.

"Um, no go ahead," he got up from his chair to let her sit in it. He stood next to her watching her add some skulls and spikes to the pen. He noticed that when she was drawing, she stuck her tongue out to the corner of her mouth. He knew she might punch him if she found out that he thought it was kind of cute.

"Okay, what do you think?" she asked getting him out of his trance.

Hiccup walked to the desk and looked at her finished drawing. "It looks good, when do you want to start building it?"

"Maybe after we get this Gobber thing resolved," she said handing him back his journal. When she got out of the chair, Hiccup got an idea.

"I think I know what to do with Gobber!"

~oOo~

"You're bringing Gobber here?" Fishlegs asked Hiccup as they gathered at The Academy.

"He's gonna be great. Nobody knows dragons like old Gobber. He has spent a lifetime, you know…studying them. If we can tap into that, we'll all be better dragon trainers."

Then the gate opened behind Hiccup and Gobber barged in with a crate of weapons. "I'm back! Did ya miss me?" The dragons tensed up and the teens were taken back seeing the weapons.

"First of all, uh, welcome. Uh, and second, uh, tiny question. Why, uh, did you bring your… you know…" Hiccup asked seeing Gobber rolling the crate making the dragons nervous.

"Killing things?" Gobber asked finishing the teenager's sentence. "I thought maybe we can train them…." Gobber pulled out an axe panicking Hiccup. "…by threatening to kill them. That's how my daddy taught me to swim." Gobber explained terrifying the dragons.

Then Gobber pulled out a mace and smashed in the stony ground. "School's in session!" Suddenly all of the four dragons flew out of The Academy. The teens and Gobber watched them fly off. Gobber shrugged it off by saying "Eh, I didn't like school either."

~oOo~

After everyone else left with their dragons in pain from searching and flying their dragons with no saddles; Hiccup decided to talk to Gobber about making saddles. Before he could, he and Astrid stayed at The Academy with their dragons as he drew some plans for the saddles.

"I am so sore," Astrid complained rubbing her back and shoulder. "I'm just gonna sit here for a while." She let out a groan as she sat on the ground to lean up against the wall. Hiccup walked up to her and leaned up against the wall and slid down next to her.

"I'm really sorry about that. I had no idea that Gobber was going to scare them off."

"I know you wouldn't have known," she grunted rubbing her shoulder. "But it still sucks."

"Well, I'm going to talk to Gobber today about making the saddles."

"I wish you would have thought about making saddles first before helping him teach." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes trying to relax.

"Again, I'm really sorry. Do you want me to take you home?" he asked.

"Sure, but you're giving me a back rub," she told him turning her head to look at him.

"Fair enough," he got up and held his hand out to help her up. Astrid grabbed his hand and pulled herself up with a grunt.

~oOo~

After they got home, Astrid fell face down on the bed and let out another groan. Toothless followed her and sniffed her before resting on his rock bed.

Hiccup walked up the stairs and saw Astrid lying on her stomach, and he sat at the end of the bed taking off of his boot. Astrid turned her head seeing him setting next to her. "I was serious when I told you that I wanted a back rub," She mumbled.

Hiccup's eyes grew wide and he blushed a little bit. "Oh, I honestly thought you were joking a bit."

"No, I was being serious. You brought Gobber in, Gobber scared our dragons, and I had to chase and ride Stormfly for four hours. So it's kind of your fault that my back hurts."

"First off, it's not my fault, and second, I feel kind of weird thinking about touching you."

"Hiccup," she moaned "It's not like you never touched my back before."

"Yeah, but that's because I've hugged you."

"All I'm asking is some help to relax my muscles. I mean, you helped me get that cramp out of my leg the other day. This isn't much different." She tried to explain.

Even though he was hesitant, she did make a point. "Umm….okay," he sat on his knees next to her and pushed into her back with the bottom of his palm. It was awkward for him to be touching her, but she didn't seem to be fazed. After a while he started to get more comfortable and started to rub small circles around her back.

When his thumb went to her lower back, he felt her tense up. "Is that where it hurts the most?" he asked.

"You think?" she winced. Before he could talk back, he had an idea to help.

"I'll be right back; I think I know what will help with that." He got up from the bed and went down stairs. Astrid let out a deep sigh as she felt herself starting to doze off.

Then she heard him come back in the room and she saw him with a bucket of water and a rag. He put the full bucket next to Toothless and told him fire at it. The water boiled after Toothless fired at it, and Hiccup rolled up his sleeves to put the rag in the water.

"You might want to roll up your shirt," he told her as he wrung out the rag.

Now Astrid was starting to feel awkward. "You want me to what?" she asked.

"Well, I assume you don't want a wet shirt." He told her as he walked by the bed. Astrid rolled up her shirt to the bottom of her breast binding, and then lay back down on her stomach. Then she felt heat rest on her back slowly loosening her tight muscles.

"This should work; I do this for my dad when his muscles hurt." He said sitting next to her.

"I don't know if it'll work, but it feels good." She said closing her eyes taking in the heat spreading through her. Hiccup could tell she was almost asleep by the steady movement of her back as she breathed. Then Hiccup heard the door knocking down stairs and he went to answer the door.

When he opened the door, he saw Mrs. Thorston holding a basket of clothes. "Hey Hiccup; I was wondering if Astrid wanted to come with Ruffnut and me to do laundry."

"I'll go ask her if she hasn't fallen asleep yet," he walked back up the stairs and saw Astrid dozing off. He touched her arm making her jump slightly before resting again.

"Hey, Mrs. Thorston is here. She was wondering if you need any clothes to be washed."

"Just have her do my clothes on the top drawer," she grumbled with her eyes closed before she pushed her head in the pillow.

"You put your dirty clothes in the top drawer of your dresser?" he asked with disgust. She just replied with a mumble and went back to sleep. Hiccup blinked a few time and took a breath. "Okay, that's it; we're getting a laundry basket for this room." He said to himself walking to her dresser gathering her clothes.

He walked down the stairs and put Astrid's clothes in Mrs. Thorstons basket. She said her goodbyes and told him she would return tonight. He thanked her and shut the door behind her. Then he heard something crinkle under his foot. He flited up his leg and saw a few pages torn side lying on the floor. He picked up pages and recognized them as the letter to Astrid.

He knew he shouldn't read it, but the fact she had torn it out of the journal made him curious. He glanced at the pages, but one word caught his attention. He started to read the letter and he couldn't believe what he was reading. He ran back up the stairs and hid the letter back in her drawer.

"Toothless," he whispered enough for the Night Fury to only hear. "Come on bud, we need to get some answers." He pulled his boot back on and ran back down stairs. Once he and Toothless were outside, he mounted on the Night Fury to search for his father.

When they flew around the island to find the chief, Hiccup told his dragon to land once he got a glance of his father. He ran up to his father talking with a fisherman. "Dad, we need to talk." He slightly panted.

"Not now son, I'm-"

"Dad, this can't wait." He said franticly putting his small hand on his hand wristband.

"Son, I'm-"

"Eleven years ago, Settlers Day." He slightly growled making his father's eyes grow wide.

"Um sir, I'm sorry, but I'll get back to you later." Stoick said to the fisherman, he understood leaving the father and son. He bent down to his son's level and whispered. "How do you know about that?"

"Asmund Hofferson wrote a letter to Astrid. I found the letter, now I need to know what you know."

Stoick sighed and put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you, but not here. I don't want any of your friends listening to us."

~oOo~

Stoick took his son and his dragon to the empty Great Hall and told him everything he knew. "I was here before it happened. There was no warning, and up to this day we don't understand why it happened. Asmund's mother took you and the other kids for a scavenger hunt in the woods…..."

 _It was a dark night and everyone was at The Great Hall celebrating Settlers Day. Asmund's mother took the kids into the woods for a founder reenactment by looking for clues._

 _Stoick smiled seeing his people celebrating the day their ancestors founded the island. Then he saw the young married couple and walked over to the table where Asmund and Ingrid were at. "Ah, there you two are, I was wondering where you went." Stoick greeted seeing the young couple just sit down._

" _Yeah, it was hard trying to convince Astrid to go with the other kids. She's been at Ingrid's hip all day." Asmund said nudging his arm on hers._

" _Yep kids are like that," Stoick sat on the other side of the table and smiled. "So, word around the pasture is that you guys are trying for another kid."_

 _The couple laughed lightly. "Well, we haven't actually tried, but we've been talking. I think we officially decided to try for another child." Ingrid explained with a grin._

" _Well congratulations anyway," Stoick said. "So, how was Hiccup for you today?" he asked the young woman._

" _Oh he was great, no trouble at all! My daughter on the other hand, what can I say? She likes to rough house with the boy." Ingrid said with a laugh making Stoick chuckle._

" _Hey, she's your daughter," Stoick chuckled._

" _Oh that reminds me! I left my coat at your house." She told her chief as she got up from her seat. She bent down to kiss her husband on the forehead before she left. "I'll be right back."_

" _Okay," Asmund watched his wife leave the hall letting the cold wind blow into the hall. Once she left the hall Stoick kept asking Asmund what their plans were. As they talked for a while, there was a blood curling scream outside._

 _Asmund turned around to the giant double doors and jumped out of his seat recognizing the scream. Others followed grabbing their weapons running out of the hall. Once they were outside, Asmund saw a woman lying on the ground by the Haddock house with an arrow sticking out of the side of her chest._

 _Asmund ran down the stairs jumping over steps to get to the bottom faster. Once his boots met the ground, he saw that the woman on the ground was indeed his wife. Stoick watched Asmund fall to his knees and with shaky hands reached out for his dying wife. Her body shook violently trying to reach for the arrow. Asmund grabbed her hand to stop her and felt her grip on him grow weak._

 _He saw blood running out of the corner of her mouth as she tried to breath. He pulled her head to his neck resting his chin on her head. Before she went unconscious, he picked her up and ran to Gothi's hut trying to avoid the arrow._

 _Stoick watched them when a thought came to him. "Find Mrs. Hofferson and the kids! Split up and search for them and the person who did this before anyone else gets hurt!" Stoick shouted at the people around him, and they scattered into the woods. Stoick ran into the woods as well as searching for the person who shot Ingrid._

 _As he ran, he heard children laughing in the distance. Stoick ran into the direction and found the elderly woman surrounded by the six children. "Mrs. Hofferson, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to escort you and the kids back to their homes."_

" _What's going on chief?" she asked. Stoick put his mouth close to her ear and whispered about what happened to Ingrid. The woman's eyes grew wide and she told the kids that she was taking them home. Stoick followed the woman and the kids to the village as he watched for the murderer. When they were in the village, their mothers saw their children and gathered them to run into their homes._

" _Chief, why is everyone acting weird?" Astrid asked looking up at the large man._

" _I'll let your father tell you," he answered just as he saw the blond man running to them. Asmund picked up his daughter and held her to his chest. The little girl pulled her head away and noticed her father's eyes were red._

" _Daddy, what happened?" she asked before he knelt to the ground to let her go._

" _Your mother isn't feeling good; I need you to say with your grandparents tonight." He told her holding her arms._

" _What's wrong with mommy?" she asked._

" _She's ill," he answered quickly. "I don't want you to catch it. You're going to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's tonight. I'll see you tomorrow." he gave her a quick peck on the cheek before running to Gothi's hut._

"We searched high and low for the man who killed Ingrid, but we could never figure out who did it," Stoick explained.

"Do you think it's someone on the island?"

"I hope not, but if they are, they never killed since," Stoick answered.

"So how come I never knew about this?"

"The next day we had a meeting about searching for the man. It was Asmund's wish for the children to never know what happened, especially Astrid. We all agreed because we didn't want you kids to get scared if this man was a Berkian. Asmund wanted to tell Astrid when she was old enough to understand."

"Is there any chance this man was from another island?"

"We looked; there were no ships or boats on the ocean. The sentries didn't work on Settlers Day back then. Of course they do now for _that_ reason in case they ever came back."

"But this doesn't make any sense. Why Ingrid Hofferson?" Hiccup asked trying to make sense of this.

"Your guess is as good as mine, her murder made no since. It couldn't be a revenge act because Asmund and Ingrid never did anything to upset anyone, and they weren't wealthy so it wasn't for money. Mostly likely, it was random."

Hiccup pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. "No wonder Astrid has been throwing her axe in the woods. I can only imag….." Hiccup felt his heart go to stomach finally making the connection. "…oh no."

Stoick noticed his son's face go pale. "Hiccup, what's wrong?"

"Astrid….she isn't throwing her axe as a grieving process. She's training before she looks for the guy who killed her mother! She's going to go after this guy!"

"Hiccup, you don't know that for sure." Stoick said putting his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. The teen pushed his father's hand away and ran out of the hall with Toothless following.

~oOo~

Astrid woke up with the now lukewarm rag on her bare back. She rubbed her eyes and pulled the damp cloth off of her. The end of her shirt felt damp from touching the wet rag. She got up from the bed and walked over to the dresser to get a clean shirt. When she got to the dresser, she saw that the top drawer was cracked open.

Feeling the panic rise in her, she opened the drawer and found her letter, but no clothes. She also saw that the letter had been bent in the middle. She wasn't sure what happened to her old clothes, but she knew Hiccup must have read her letter.

Her panic turned into anger and she slammed the drawer shut. She was going to kill him for getting into her personal business. Then she heard the front door open and shut and she ran down the stairs almost crashing into Hiccup.

"I can't believe you!" she shouted.

"What?"

"You got in my drawer and read my letter!" she yelled seeing him opening his mouth to speak. "Don't you dare deny it! The papers are bent, I know you read them!"

Hiccup raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, listen to me. I wasn't searching for your letter. You must have been sleep talking when Mrs. Thorston showed up-"

"Oh, so you're going to blame this on Mrs. Thorston?" she snapped.

"Listen to me woman! Mrs. Thorston showed up asking if you wanted her to do your laundry. You told me to get your clothes in the top dresser, which by the way is gross. So I picked up your clothes, and I must have picked up the letter too. It fell on the floor so I picked it up and I read it."

Astrid growled and pulled at her loose hair walking pass him. "I don't believe this! You read my letter!"

"Now wait just a minute!" Hiccup raised his voice seeing her turn around to look at him. "You kept this secret from me and I had a right to know! The other day you kept talking about if it was a good idea to keep secrets."

"You said that it depended on how serious the secret was!"

"You were asking me about keeping secrets from kids that don't even exist yet! You said nothing about keeping secrets from each other!"

"That doesn't matter anymore! What matters now is that you were in my personal business! You were the last person I thought who would do that!" she shouted pointing a finger at him.

"Okay fine, I got into your business, but boy am I glad I did!"

Astrid was taken back feeling her anger rise. "Excuse me?"

"I know you Astrid. Something like that is going to set your warrior side off. I know you're training to kill this guy, and I don't want you to do this."

"You see! This is why I kept it a secret from you! I knew you wouldn't understand why I need to find this guy!" She shouted pushing him to the side to walk to the door.

"I didn't say I didn't understand," he said more calmly.

Astrid turned around with a raised brow. "What?"

"I get it, but you are going to get yourself killed doing it." He walked up to her seeing her face soften a little.

"I know I might, but I need to avenge my mother."

"Astrid, you read the letter. Your father didn't even see the guy, and he tried to look to him too. You looking for your mother's murderer is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We have no witnesses; it's going to be impossible to find him."

Astrid let out a sigh and crossed her arms. "I know it's going to be impossible to find him, but my mother needs justice."

Hiccup put both of his hands on her shoulders. "Hey I get it, but how are you going to find this guy?"

She stomped her foot and walked away from him tying to think of something to say. "Alright, I know I have no leads, or witnesses, but I need to find this guy. I just don't know how." She leaned up against the wall and slid down to the floor. Hiccup walked up to her and sat next to her.

"Look, I think if we're going to find this guy, you're going to need someone to help you."

Astrid's anger ceased and she looked at him in shock. "Wait, are you serious? You're going to help me catch this guy?"

Hiccup shrugged, "Yeah I mean, why shouldn't I? You're my friend, my second hand, and even though it's weird to say it out loud, you are my wife. We're a team, and we'll find this guy. We might get killed doing it, but I'm with you." He gave her a small smile and playfully nudges her with his arm.

Astrid smiled softly and leaned her head on his shoulder. Hiccup froze by her action at first, but he relaxed and put an arm around her and leaned his head on hers. They stayed like that for a while until Astrid broke the silence. "Hey, did you say I put my dirty laundry in the top drawer?"

"Um, yeah and no matter how many times it's said, it's still disgusting."

Astrid let out a light laugh making him confused by the humor. "That wasn't dirty laundry; the top drawer was filled with old clothes I was going to give away. I wanted them clean before I sent them off."

Hiccup sighed and breathed out a laugh. "Oh thank the gods. I thought you really didn't know what to do with dirty clothes."

Astrid slapped him in the chest hard enough to make him grunt in pain. "Hey, if there was one thing I did right at home it was laundry."

"Okay, I should have known it wasn't dirty laundry." He said as he rubbed the sting out of his chest.

"You do know that you'll never hear the end of this right?"

"Yeah I figured," he grumbled.

Then Astrid lifted her head slightly from his shoulder to look at him. "Oh hey did you ever ask Gobber about the saddles."

Hiccup's eyes grew wide and then he cringed. "Oh man!" he whined before getting up from the ground. "I'll be right back." He walked out of the house leaving Astrid by herself. As much as she appreciated that he was going to help her find her mother's murderer, she couldn't help but think how badly it could end if they did.

* * *

 **A/N: So what do you guys think?**

 **Oh and also, before I forget to** **mention, I decided to make this story a trilogy. That way this AU wont have 100+ chapters all together. I think it will be better if I separate it.**

 **Also, to clear some confusion, I'm NOT done with this one yet. I mean, I haven't even gotten to the climax yet!**

 **So until then, I'll see you guys next time. BYE!**


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